LIBRARY ^QF CONGRESS, 

Chap., J Copyright No..... ... 

Shelf...r_£L.-|i3 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



A NARRATIVE 



OF THE 



Life, Experience and Work 
of an American Citizen, 



BY 



GEORGE HASKELL. 



Printed for the Author. 



IPSWICH, MASS.: ' 

Chronicle Publishing Company. 
1896. 



F7i- 
■T6Hj 



Eutered according to Act of Congress, in the Year 1896, by 
GEOKaE HASKELL, ^>^W^^^^5}^ 
in tlie office of the Librarian of Congress, at fv^slilngtou. * ' 



Note. — Tlie inability of the Author to read the revised copy or 
proof-sheets, will account for any errors tliat may be found in the 
printing. 






v.'^ 



Ill 



CONTENTS. 



Personal History. 

Official Positions and Labors. 
Horticultural Work. 
Poetry. 
Professional Life and Work- 
Political Work. 
Agricultural Work. 
Miscellaneous Writings. 



INDEX. 

Personal History. 



Page. 

Birth, Parentage and 8chool Age 1 

>ry Life in Boston 3-6 

Business Employments 7-13-14 

Journey To and From the West 8-13 

Return to Ipswich 13 

Manufacturing: Bought Land 14 

Planted a Vineyard : Search for good Grape 14-16 

Writing Poetry, and for the newspapers 17 

Elected to Town Offices 37 

Elected to the Legislature 38-44 

Studying Law, Admitted to the Bar 49 

My Mother Died. Life in Hotel 68 

Bought Land on Heartbreak Hill; planted trees there Ill 

In Poor Health 98 

Withdrew from Law Practice 90-100 

Spent Winter at the South. 133 

Keeping House 121 

Built House and Barn. Eyesight failed 150 

Retired from General Business 165-66 



YI 

Offieal Positions and Labors. 

Page. 

In Town Offices 1837-1847 37 

Legrislature 1839 38 

Legislature 1841 , 45 

Constitutional Convention 1853. Speech in same 69 

Legislature 1854, opposed Tunnel Loan 96 

(bounty Commissioner 1856, work done as such 97 

Legislature 1860 98 

Legislature 1876 143 



Horticultural Labor. 

Planted a V^ineyard 14 

Search for Native flrape • 14 

Planted Grape Seeds 14 

From Fngrafted Vines 15 

Cross-Fertilization of the Spet-ies 16 

American Species 109 

p]ffects of Crossing 108-131-143 

Testing the Hybrids • 145 

Grafting the Vine 145 

Pedigree in Varieties 147 

Planted a Pear Orchard Ill 

Planted Peach trees Ill 

Better Grapes Needed in tliis Country 154 

DiflReulties to he overcome 146 



VII 

Poetry. 

Page. 
Napoleon's Grave 18 

The Greatest Boon 19 

The Past 21 

Despondency 29 

Non-Committalism 30 

Nay: But I Will Die Here 30 

Song 31 

The Rocky Mountains 32 

Xiagara 34 

To The (Uunch Weather ( ock 34 

To a Dove 35 

Contentment 36 

Thou Art Weloms 36 



Professional Life and Work. 

Studyinjr Law 44 

Admitted to the Bar 49 

Xeed of Reform in .lutiieial Proceedings 61 

Returned from Genpral (^ourt 98-100 



Political Work. 

Review of Speech of Oe<trge Bancroft. 1840 45 

Review jf Speech of Amasa Walker, 1840 52 

Review i»f Whig Nomination of Gen. Taylor, 1848 65 

Review of Webster's Speech in 1850 60 

Review of Massacliusetts Coalition, 1850 68 

Review of Sumner's Course in U. S. Senate, 1862 101 

Review of ths Policy for Re-Construction, 1864 .' 118 

Review of the Policy exempting U. S. Bonds from Tax 120 

Review of (Jen. Butler's Republicanism 124 



VIII 

Agricultural Work 

Page. 

Importance of Well Matured Seed 112 

Preparation of Bones as Manure 113 

Under-Draining with small fall 116 

The best time to cut bushes 122 



Miscellaneous Writings. 

My Life in Boston 3-6 

Journey to and from Cincinnati 7-13 

A Sabbath Morning in Boston 38 

A Convention of Abolitionists 39 

Funerals in Boston 42 

Lecture by Prof. Walker 59 

Notes of a Southern Tour 133 

Dedication of Ipswich Library 127 

Address at 2£0th Anniversary of the town 153 



A NARRATIVE. 



August 2-t, 1895. I have today completed 86 years of 
my life, and this is its history. 

I was born in Newburyport, August 24, 1809. My father 
was also born in that town. He was the son of Dea. Nehe- 
miah Haskell who removed to that town in early life. My 
mother was Eunice Dodge, daughter ot Barnabas Dodge, an 
eminent surveyor, who was employed by the state in the 
latter part of the last century to run out the township lines 
in the District of Maine. My grandfather Haskell was born 
in Gloucester, within a mile of the Ipswich boundry line. 
My grandfather Dodge and both my grandmothers, Eliza- 
beth Pitts and Elizabeth Giddings were natives of Ipswich, 
and descendents of its early families. 

.At an early age I was sent to the private School of Miss 
Chase in Milk street. .\11 that I remember of the school is — 
that the scholars were sent to pick up the apples that 
fell from the trees in her garden, on the day of the Great 
September gale 1815 and that I was sent home before noon 
in the care of an older scholar. A few years later I 
was sent to the public school at the south end of the Mall. 
I remained in the school until my parents removed to Ips- 
wich when I was ten years old. My father died soon after 
this removal. In Ipswich I was sent to the Feoffees (iram- 
1 



2 

mar School (Latin and Greek) then taught by George 
Choate, afterwards the eminent physician in Salem. I at- 
tended this school under different teachers six years. 

In January, 1825, 1 went to Boston as apprentice to Smith 
& Dyer, dealers in fancy goods and manufacturers of fancy 
morocco work, at No, 2 Milk street. The business includ- 
ed the manufacture of many various articles, such as work- 
boxes, dressing cases, portfolios, reticules, pocket books, 
etc, etc. It was then very profitable, there being no other es- 
tablishment of the kind in this part of the country. 

I remained in that position till April, 1827, when a differ- 
ence with Mr. Dyer led me to leave. That difference was only 
a question whether my conduct on a certain occasion had 
given him a right to insist upon an apolog3' from me, which 
I would not admit, and therefor refused to make and I left 
t;hem in April, 1827. 

Very little in the experience and conduct of a lad in Boston 
during two years of his life, when from fifteen to seventeen 
years of age can be of interest to the general reader ; and j'^et 
my tastes and inclinations which controlled me then indi- 
cated that mental and moral tone which have marked my 
individuality, in my opinions and conduct, during mv 
whole life. 

During my residencein Boston I lived in the family of my 
employer in Purchase street, on Fort Hill. The times for 
meals, sleep and labor, were observed with great regularity. 
Labor for my employers ended at 8 P. M. The establishment 
was closed at ten. Over-work by the hour or piece-work 
was given to those who desired it for those two hours, and 
I seldom missed an hour in doing it. 

I thus earned enough to pay for my clothes, and to make 
occasional remittances to my mother, who needed the assist- 
ance of her children. 



It was an attempt to cut down the price of such over- 
work that led to my difference with Mr. Dyer and caused me 
to leave. 

1 attended few shows or exhibitions, and never entered a 
theatre, although my employers offered me tickets every 
winter to see the play of George Barnwell for the moral les- 
son it was supposed to convey. In the autumn of 1826 an 
incident occurred which I have often since thought might 
have turned the course of my life into a channel very differ- 
ent from that through which it has drifted. The house in 
which Mr. Dyer lived was owned by an old gentleman who, 
with his daughter, about my age, boarded in the family. 

The father wished his daughter to attend a fashionable 
dancing school in Winter street, and he told me that if I 
would accompany her as escort he would pay my instruc- 
tion and for a hack when the weather was stormy or the 
walking bad. I declined the offer not from any di«like of the 
girl, though nowise partial to her, but because of the loss of 
my time and cost of new clothes I would have to procure; 
but more because of m}' bashfulness — an absolute dread I 
felt to meet and mingle in such a gay and giddy throng. 
Had I accepted that offer, it is most probable that I should 
not have folio v\ed or enjoyed the quiet and retired life of a 
recluse. 

I observed the Sabbath in the old New England manner, 
bv going to church twice each Sabbath. There were able 
and interesting preachers in the different denominations ; 
and their different doctrines, and their different wa3'S of 
treating a subject kept me on the lookout for something 
new If not surprising ; and I never left a church without hav- 
ing learned something new or having obtained some new 
food for thought. 

Dr. Lyman Beecher preached in Hanover street. In the 



course of his sermon he often lifted his spectacles from his 
nose to his forehead. This was a notice that some un- 
written remarks were coming, and they were always very 
instructive, interesting and witty, and sometimes humorous 
and laughter-exciting, so much so as to be quite a feature 
of the service there. Henry Ware also preached in Hanover 
street. There was always good music in the service here. 
Charlotte Cushman sang in the choir. She had not then 
gone on the stage. 

I heard Orville Dewey and Mr. Palfres in the church in 
Brattle street occasionally. 

Mr. Ballou preached in School street. He was a very in- 
teresting preacher — plain and blunt in his sermon — some- 
times almost irreverent in language. 

Dr. Wisner preached in the Old South. I did not attend 
service there often, for although he was doubtless a good 
and able man he was not an agreeable speaker. My posi- 
tion in business being directly in front of this church I was 
led to regard it with interest and veneration; and my feel- 
ings have been wounded at its present desecration. I have 
passed by it many times since 1873, but never without a 
feeling of regret that the great fire in that year did not wipe 
it from the face of the earth, and thus save the people of 
Boston from the reproach of having one of its ancient and 
sacred temples thus desecrated, under the notion that its 
preservation in its present condition and use is an honor to 
them. 

Bishop Chevarus preached in Franklin street, in the only 
Catholic church then in Boston. I attended once. It was 
difficult to get admittance there was such a crowd, and I 
stood in the gallery aisle during the whole service. 

The Bishop's sermon, (although I do not think he had 
a text) was a ])lain and instructive nddress on the affairs 



and duties of life — veo' different from the sermon I heard 
in the Park street church on the previous Sunday, on "origi- 
nal sin" — in which the preacher attempted to prove that 
"In Adam's fall 
We Biunecl all." 

I was so interested in the solemnity of the ceremonials 
and enchanting music that I was not conscious of the 
lapse of time; and when I got home for my dinner, at noon 
as I thought, 1 found that it was the middle of the after- 
noon. 

1 attended the church at the corner of Summer and Bed- 
ford streets in which Mr. Young preached, more often than 
any other. It was near my home and there was always 
room. Mr. Young made frequent exchanges, and I heard 
many prominent preachers. The stranger's seat was a plain, 
painted bench against the wall on one side of the gallery 
aisle, with no rail in front or arm rest, extending the whole 
lengih of the church and 1 do not remember that any other 
person took a seat upon it at any time that I sat there. 

I think my presence there was a puzzle to the wealthy 
families who occupied the comfortable square pews between 
the aisle and front of the gallery. And well they might have 
wondered at it. To see a country lad neatly and plainly 
clad, not in city fashion, so bashful that if my eye met their 
glance my cheeks would crimson in an instant — sitting there 
alone, Sabbath after Sabbath, while there were so many 
alluring sights and sounds about the city outside. T saw 
that my presence was often the subject of comment among 
the occupants of these pews. The gentleman who occupied 
the pew directly in front of my usual seat, a merchant, for- 
merly a ship master, was very severe and unkind in his looks 
at me— as if he wanted to say— what are you here for? 
There was nothing in my countenance to call for this, there 



was nothing ugly or vicious in Lhe expression of my face — 
indeed in the daguerreotypes taken a few years later there 
is nothing remarkable in my features except an expression 
of sadness about the mouth which is obscured by the beard 
of later years. 

The ladies of his family, I suppose a wife and daughters, 
appeared to be as much surprised and looked at me 
wuth equal curiosity, but not with aversion, and I be- 
lieved, often conversed with each other about me. This was 
a very embarrassing position for me, especially in prayer- 
time when many turned their faces towards me. I had been 
taught never to turn my back on the preacher in prayer 
time, and had to stand up facing them, with no rail in front, 
no rest for the arms or elbows, and I was sorely perplexed 
to know what to do with my hands. 1 had not then 
learnt to fold them behind on my back. In a few sabbaths 
I felt more at my ease especially as an old, grey headed 
gentleman, as he passed me on the way to his pew gave me 
a half-nod of recognition with old-time courtesy. 

Dr. Channing preached in Federal street. I heard him 
often. One of his sermons I remember very distinctly and 
fully, after the lapse of nearly seventy 3'ears. It was from 
the text ''I say unto you the Kingdom of Heaven is within 
you." I had been brought up and instructed in the Calvin- 
istic creed, that there was a local heaven for the righteous 
and a local hell for the wicked. I had never heard that 
doctrine denied or doubted, and took it for granted that it 
was true without reflection or reasoning about it. But this 
sermon, and the calm and persuasive reasoning upon the 
subject, overthrew that doctrine in one hour. 

This sermon did much more than that. It aroused my 
curiosity in regard to other points in the taith of my parents 
and led to reflection upon them and to subject them to the 



test of reason and the known order of things in creation, 
and in later life to doubt them, and to doubt the possibility 
of our knowing the truth of doctrines that are regarded as 
the foundation of all religious faith. 

But this ^Yeakening of religious faith did not lessen my 
sense of the obligations of my duty to follow the advice and 
observe the injunctions of an intelligent and pious mother 
which I received on leaving home — "not to go to the theatre, 
— to avoid bad companions — not to follow bad examples, 
and to go to church." 

I did not see the inside of a theatre during my residence 
there— did not learn to smoke.drink or play cards, nor would 
I take any part in the peccadilloes then and now so common 
in social life; and I left Boston when seventeen years old un- 
contaminated by its vices and habits. 

I soon found employment with Mr. Sykes in Providence, a 
dealer in fancy goods, with whom I engaged for one year. 

In the autumn of that ycjir he removed to Worcester and 
I went there with him. On the expiration of the year in the 
spring of 18281 went to Salem and engaged with Mr. Skerry, 
also a dealer in fancy goods, with whom I remained until 
the fall when I went to Cambridgeport and commenced to 
manufacture on my own account, and continued to do so 
until June, 1830. 

At that time, having accumulated quite a large stock of 
the nicest goods — real morocco, heavily gilt, satin lined and 
steel mountings— I went to Cincinnati with a view of estab- 
lishing their manufacture in that city. In making this selec- 
tion of goods, however, I had "reckoned without my host," 
as I was told on all sides, by dealers and public men, that 
the people there were not ready to encourage the sale or the 
manufacture of such superfluities, and I left my goods to be 
sold on the best terms and returned without them by the 



lines of public travel, A journey thither and back was then so 
very different from the present facilities of travel, an account 
of my journey will be interesting now, and especially so in 
the future. 

The stage for Albany called for me at my home in Boston 
at two o'clock in the morning, and two other passengers 
were taken at the stage office, at Earls' tavern in Hanover 
street, and an hour later two ot;hers were taken at Cam- 
bridge. These and no others went through to Albany; but 
there was a frequent reception and exit of passengers along 
the route. We took breakfast at Northboro, the stage wait- 
ing while we ate. The stage also waited while we took din- 
ner at a small hotel some miles west of Worcester, and wear- 
rived in Northampton just before dark and there stopped for 
the night. At 2 o'clock the next morning we were called up 
as the "stage was ready" to continue our journey. Chat with 
the many passengers, who were constantly getting in and 
lea Ying,ab?)ut local objects and topics, relieved the monotony 
of the tedious ride until we reached the Berkshire hills. Here 
the stnge stopped and all the men got out to walk up the hill 
for the relief of the horses. On the top of the hill a "shoe" 
was put under one of the hind wheels to prevent its revolv- 
ing and acting as a brake by causing it to drag on the 
ground. The men got in the stage again and we went down 
the hill fast enough to make up for the time lost in the ascent. 
We reached Albany on the second day, just before sunset. 

At .\lbany, the next morning, I took the stage for Schenec- 
tady, intending there to intercept and take passage on the 
Canal Packet which left .\lbany several hours earlier. These 
Canal Packets were canal boats fitted up for carrying pas- 
sengers only and which took no freight. There was a cabin 
for females in the front end and one for males in the rear end 
with a dovible tier of berths for sleeping on each side, and a 



small room between these cabins, in which meals v.'ere serv- 
ed. They were restricted in speed to four miles an hour, but 
as they run day and night and made no stops for taking or 
delivering freight, they made as rapid progress as other 
modes of public travel, and was much more comfortable, 
than ride day after day in a stage coiich. It was very dull 
and on arriving at Auburn I left the Packet and took the 
stage for Rochester, and there 1 was weary and lame with 
the jolting of stage travel and I took the Packet again for 
Buffalo, where I arrived in the middle of the fourth day 
from Albany. 

At Buffalo I immediately took passage on steamboat for 
Cleveland. The boat was much crowded with passengers 
not half of whom could have a berth, or a seat, on which to 
sleep. I arrived at Cleveland in the afternoon of a Friday 
and found no stage left for Cincinnati, or in that direction, 
until Sunday morning. Three other young men got off the 
steamer when I did, all bound south, Mr, Lincoln of Hart- 
ford for Cincinnati, and Messrs Blodgett and Chase of Ver- 
mont for Kenyon College at Mt. Vernon, Chase being a 
nephew of Bishop Chase, then President of the College. We 
had ample time to see, and we did see the town of Cleveland 
pretty thoroughly. It gave no instance then of the growth 
and prosperity that has marked its course. There was only 
one pier on the lake shore, a rickety looking thing on piles 
at which the steamboat landed. The rest of the shore was 
a high, steep and broken bank, except a narrow ravine on 
the west of the town, through which the canal, then just 
completed at this terminus, entered the lake. West of the 
canal there was only one building, a paper mill. The hills 
were covered with trees, and a shute was in operation on 
which the wood on the hill was slid down for the use of the 
mill. The people of the town seemed to be awake for busi- 



10 

ness, for as we s»auntered about the town during our en- 
forced detention, we were asked several times bj' the men in 
the stores and places of business, if we wanted a job, or 
would we like a place, and although we replied in the nega- 
tive, they would go on extolling the town and its prospects 
for young men. 

A.t two o'clock Sunday morning we took the stage for 
Cincinnati. The stage was full, the roads poor and our 
progress was slow and tedious. We reached Pikeville, where 
breakfast was provided for passengers, soon after day-break. 
The tavern was a rudely constructed log house, the floors 
were made of logs laid close together, the top sides of which 
had been hewed down so as to make the floor nearly level. 
Breakfast was served on a table of white boards, but ever3' 
thing looked very clean, and the provisions were fit for a 
king; coffee, venison, eggs and a bowl of custard by each 
plate, excellent bread and buckwheat "Honey -comb" waf- 
fles, with the cells filled with fresh butter, were all excellent. 
The charge for this meal was three bits, (ten cents or nine- 
pence is a bit). 

At Medina we lost two of our company. who had returned 
to this place from a visit to their old home in Connecticut. 
The settlements were small and widely scattered, and no 
way-passengers were taken, and the ride was tedious. 
There was nothing to make the journey interesting not even 
in the natural scenery, although some of the forests through 
which we passed were grand in their magnitude and dense- 
ness. Through one of these south of Worcester, the carriage 
way was made by cutting the trees so near to the ground, 
that the carriage axeltrees would pass over the 
stumps, and the horses were so harnessed as to travel in 
the ruts, and thus the carriage and horses straddled the 
stumps. The night was spent at Mount Vernon, where we 



11 

left our companions irom Vermont, (Chase and Blodgett) 
who were to enter Kenyon College. They had traveled with 
me from Buffalo. I left Mount Vernon the next morning 
for Springfield. On arriving at a small settlement about 
20 miles east of Columbus, it was found that all the trunks on 
the rack on the back of the stage had been lost. The passen- 
gers waited here about 4 hours while the driver went back 
with the stage to find the lost baggage, which was found to 
have slid from the rack while ascending the steep bank of a 
small stream, which had been forded. It was all dry and 
uninjured. On arriving at Columbus we were urged 
to take a luncheon, being told that it would 
be late in the afternoon when we arrived at Xenia, 
the place appointed for dinner. Soon after leaving Colum- 
bus, 1 had my first discomfort in riding over a "Corduroy" 
road, a road made over a meadow or bottom land, by plac- 
ing logs close together across the road-way. Supper was 
taken with the driver at Xenia and 1 arrived at Springfield 
late in the evening and the rest of the night was spent there. 

Another night wa« spent on the route, and I think it was 
at Hamilton, between Springfield and Cincinnati. I arrived 
at Cincinnati in the middle of the afternoon. 

I returned to Boston by the southern route, and took pas- 
sage on a steamboat at Cincinnati for Wheeling. The boat 
made slow progress against the stream, having a heavy 
freight and many passengers, and soon after 
sunset the river valley was filled a dense fog 
which made it dangerous to proceed in the night. 
The boat was laid up by the shore and made fast to 
the trees on the bank, until the fog was scattered by the 
morning sun. After the ladies had left the dining table, 
some of the men would remain at the table, and gambling 
and wrangling were carried on until the time for setting the 



12 

table for supper, and after that meal I suppose the same 
conduct continued until midnight, if not till morning, the 
officers of the boat being unwilling or afraid to interfere 
with the habits of their patrons. At Wheeling, 1 took pas- 
sage in the mail stage which made a continuous trip, day 
and night, for Baltimore. There were five passengers for 
the entire route, one of whom could sleep sitting on the back 
seat, and it was agreed among the other four that the front 
seat in the coach should be used by them in turn each night, 
as a berth on which to sleep, that seat having the least 
motion and being the widest and most comfortable on the 
coach. 

The teams were good, the coaches excellent and much 
better than those seen in the north. The Monongahela 
river was crossed in a flat boat, so constructed at the ends 
that the stage was driven from the bank on to the boat at 
one end, the boat was then pushed across the river by men 
with setting poles on each side of the boat, and arriving at 
the other side of the stream the stage was driven over the 
other end of the boat on to the river bank. The river was 
thus crossed with ease and safety, but it looked like a danger- 
ous method when the water was high and the current rapid. 

The stage route over the Alleghany mountains was by the 
Cumberland road, built by the U. S. Government many 
years ago to facilitate the transportation of merchandise 
between the sea coast and the Ohio river. This road was of 
easy grade, broad and well paved. To overcome the steep 
acclivity of the mountain, its course was serpentine, a con- 
titmous succession of curves, on one side of the curves was a 
high wall, or embankment, without any railing or guard. 

The ride was therefore one of anxiety, especially when the 
driver put his horses in a run, as he often did in descending 
the mountain side in the night time, as the coach lanterns 



13 

revealed the dark and deep chasms on one side or the other. 

The ride over the heavily wooded mountains in the night 
time was very dreary. We met and passed many heavily 
loaded baggage wagons employed in transporting merchan- 
dise between the sea coast and the Ohio river. They usually 
had a chime of little bells on a frame on one of the saddles 
which made a pretty and lively music as the- horses moved 
on, and this was the only cheerful sound that indicated that 
any living thing was near us. It was said that the horses 
made their appointed distance in less time, and came in much 
less fatigued, under the stimulus of this music. 

The loss of sleep and the fatigue on this route, made it nec- 
essary for me to stop over one day in Baltimore, On leaving 
Baltimore for home took, I the quickest and usually traveled 
route. Leaving Baltimore by steamboat for Frenchtown, 
thence by stage across Deleware to Newcastle, thence by 
steamboat to Philidelphia, the next morning leaving Phil- 
adelphia by steamboat for Bordentown, thence by stages 
across New Jersej-^ to Amboy, and thence by steamboat to 
New York City. 

The next morning I left New York for Boston but stopped 
over night in Woodstock. The next day I arrived in Boston 
after an absence of six weeks, two weeks of which was spent 
in Cincinnati and the other four weeks were spent in mak- 
ing the journey out and back, with the stopping over on the 
waj-- for l)usiness and curiosity. I immediately went to 
Cambridgeport and engaged in my manufacturing business 
again. 

Soon after my return from the west in 1830, 1 had a severe 
attack of Asthma, an incessant cough and great difficulty of 
breathing, and early in the autumn 1 returned to my 
mother's home in Ipswich, as it was supposed, to die, the 
doctors and drugs giving me no relief. But the following 



14 

winter cured me entirely, and ten or fifteen years later 1 was 
told by Dr.J.Jackson of Boston, that my affliction was "hay 
asthma," a disease of which I had never heard and which 
has since become so fashionable under the name of hay 
fever. 

On the restoration of my health in the spring of 1831, I 
commenced manufacturing in Ipswich, which business, I pur- 
sued with success and profit until 1837. The financial 
troubles of 1837 caused the failure of several firms who 
bought most of my goods, and by such failures I lost most 
of my earnings. 

Disgusted and discouraged in carrying on a business the 
success of which depended so much upon the conduct of 
others, I determined to abandon it, and go west and become 
a farmer. 

My return to Ipswich gave me an opportunity to gratify 
my taste for horticultural pursuits, and I soon had my 
mother's garden filled with vines and fruit trees. In a few 
years I bought land and a large number of grape vines, and 
planted a vineyard. After several years of labor and careful 
culture, I became satisfied that no known good variety of 
the grape was suited to our soil and climate, or would suc- 
ceed here. I thereupon began the search for a good native 
in the swamps and woods of this region. Whenever I heard 
of a wild vine bearing fruit called good, I invariably visited 
it, and I have travelled many miles, and for several years, 
through the swamps, woods, and morasses of this section, 
in quest of a grape worth cultivating. Some, of course, 
were better than others, and that all were better or earlier 
than the general run, were removed to my grounds, but they 
did not improve, or were hardly as good, when grown in the 
warm, dry soil of a garden. 

I then began to plant the seeds of these best natives, and 



15 

continued to do so for three generations of vines, without 
obtaining, out of many thousands thus raised, a single fruit 
that I regarded worth propagating, and only a few of them 
have been preserved, but the earliest and best ofnative vines, 
thus obtained, have been used in crossing with the foreign. 

Simultaneously with thcbc effects. 1 raised many hundred 
vines from seeds of different foreign grapes. These seeds 
were planted under glass, and the vines remained in the 
house two years, when they were removed to the open air. 
None of them proved healthy or would bear our winters. 
Some of them lived to bear fruit for a 3'ear or two, but they 
all died in a few years, though well covered every winter. 

I then sought to obtain better fruit bj' grafting the native 
upon the foreign, and planting the seeds of the native, thus 
grown upon the foreign root; but I could not discover any 
improvement in the fruit of the seedlings grown from such 
seed. I also sought to obtain hardihood of vine, by graft- 
ing the foreign upon the native and planting the seed of the 
foreign thus grown upon the native root; but the vines of 
such seedlings proved no hardier than seedlings from a 
foreign, ungrafted vine. In neither case did the stock appear 
to have any influence upon the character or fruit of the vines 
grown from seed of the graft, nor were such vines different 
from seedlings of the same species, when grown from seed of 
ungrafted vines. 

1 then tried to modify the fruit of seedlings through the 
agency of the foliage, and as soon as the fruit was formed 
on each species 1 inarched the new shoot of the other species 
into the shoot bearing the cluster just above the fruit. When 
the union of the shoots was complete, in about two weeks, I 
cut out the shoot proper to the fruit at the point of union 
and took off all the foliage on that shoot below the cluster; 
thus leaving the fruit with no foliage but that of the other 



species to nourish and mature it. White grapes were thus 
grown under the foliage of black grapes, and black under 
the foliage of w^hite, and each retained its proper color, 
though the texture and quality of the fruit seemed to be 
changed by the alien foliage. The foliage of the foreign was 
thus placed over the fruit of the native, and the foliage of 
the native over the fruit of the foreign. 

The seeds of fruits thus grown, were planted for several 
years, but the result was a great disappointment. I did not 
find such a decided effect as I expected. The vines from the seed 
of the foreign fruit, thus grown, were notso hardy or healthy 
as I desired, nor was the fruit of native seedlings, thus 
grown, good enough to be propagated. Perhaps the latter, 
had they been tried a few years longer, might have improved, 
and farther south the former might have grown successfully, 
but, unfortunately, none have been preserved for such fur- 
the rtrial. 

My next method of seeking for the desired fruit was, by in- 
arching the new shoot of the foreign upon the native, and of 
the native upon the foreign, as soon as the fruit was formed, 
both below and above the section of the cane bearing 
the cluster; and as soon as the union was complete, the cane 
bearing the cluster was severed from its own root and de- 
prived of all its leaves, thus having the fruit of each species, 
with about three inches of its cane, grown and matured up- 
on the root and under the foliage of the other species. I 
hoped some of the seed, thus grown, would produce vines 
possessing the desired qualities. (A full and more particular 
account of this process was published in the Country 
Gentleman, in September, 1863.) Alter laboring for more 
than thirty 3'ears in this method, the vines thus obtained 
were abandonedt=as worthies. 

A more full and particular statement of these experiments, 



17 

the methods pursued, their failures and partial successes, 
was published in a pamphlet in 1877, but this brief state- 
ment of my labors may be of interest to the general reader 
as well as useful to the grape grower. 

After closing my manufacturing business in 1837, the next 
two years were spent in the cultivation of my grape vines, 
and in the performance of official duties as a selectman and 
assessor, to which office I was elected in 1837. Much of my 
time during this period was spent in writing articles for the 
periodical press, upon important municipal topics, political 
questions, some poetry, and on current affairs of general 
interest. 

Many pieces of poetry were written in the course of a few^ 
years, and several of them were published from time to time 
in the newspapers of the day. But I had doubts about their 
merit or whether I had any gift or genius in that direction, 
or whether it w^as worth while for me to write more or re- 
vise what I had written. 

I therefore desired the frank and deliberate opinion of 
some competent person on these matters, and I wrote to 
Hon. Edward Everett, saying "I had in my possession a 
small collection of manuscript poetry which the author 
wished to submit to his examination and judgement, not 
merely on the intrinsic merit of the work, but also to know^ 
if it is indicative of any talent for writing." 

To this request, Mr. Everett replied, that "the difficulties 
in judging of the merits ol a manuscript were so great, that 
he had been obliged to ask to be excused from making such 
examinations of manuscripts." 

1 then called upon the publishers, Munroe & Francis, and 
made inquiry about the cost of publishing the work. 

I was told that no volume of poetry would pay the cost of 
publication unless it was written by some author of estab- 



18 

lished reputation like Mrs. Sigourney or Mrs. Hemans. 

I thereupon gave up all idea of revising or completing 
what I had written, and it has remained in obscurity until 
now. 

Much ofit appears too sentimental for an old man of 86; but 
some of the shorter pieces seem to have some force or beauty 
and are inserted in this work. If I had had more confidence 
in myself— more audacit}' and some encouragement, and had 
continued mv mental labor with such care and diligence as 
I have exercised in other matters, perhaps I would have re- 
written something more worthy of preservation than the 
following specimens of my early efforts, most of which have 
remained in obscurity for more than sixty years, and which 
were written before I was twenty-five years old, when I 
knew very little of life, of mankind orof the world ingeneral, 
and when I had to draw from imagination a description of 
objects I had never seen and emotions I had never felt : 



Napoleon's Grave, (In i835.) 



Here now j-ests the Couquerer 
With his pomp and his pride, 
With all that he fought for 
And won, ere he died. 

What now is the worth 
Of all that he won, 
'Ihe conquest of earth. 
The sceptre and crown. 

8ay not that his name 
Shall still live in story: — 
There may be a fame 
Without any plorj-. 



.19 

''He conquered" — what then ? 
He was wrong' in the strife, 
Bought victory with men, 
Paid for power with life. 

He trod on the weak, 
Spurned mercy and right. 
Nor of aught did he roek, 

If it favored his might. 

"rill lie reached the high goal 
His ambition had sought, 
And held the control 
For which he hud fought. 

He fell — as man must 
From absolute sway — 
From ruling — how just — 
He tell, to obey. 

In loneliness here 

He lies in a bed 

Wnere none loved and dear 

A tear-drop can shed. 

The dark stormy ocean 
Around him may moan: — 
More fit than emotion 
To mourn that he's gone. 

His wild, mad career 
(O call it not great,) 
May well claim a tear, 
Hut not his just fate. 



The Greatest Boon. 

I asked of children as they played 
And 'mong life's early pleasures strayed- 

When all around bade them rejoice — 
What is the boon of childhood's choice ? 



20 



In hopefulness they all replied 
Tho' differing in their answers wide, 
One would have this — another that — a toy 
Was the great boon of every boy. 

I asked them, when in after life 
They mingled in man's busy strife, 

What's now the greatest boon to you — 
What the chief aim ye have in view ? 

One said I spend the midnight oil 
And each succeeding day in toil 

To search, consider and explore 
The learning and the tomes of yore, 
The greatest boon to me is lore. 

For me, another quick replied 

The great boon is a loving bride, 
Whom I from early life have loved 
And all her virtues known and proved. 

Another eaid the Trump of Fame 
In giving an undying name, 
Bestows the greatest boon on earth, 
The only one of lasting worth. 

The last replied that glittering gold 
In weight and measure both untold. 
Enough to last ten thousand lives, 
Is the great boon — life's greatest prize. 

When each his greatest boon liad won 
Was weary of the race he'd run 
And life had hard their spirits tasked, 
I saw them and again I asked, 
What think ye is the greatest boon, 
Now all ye labored for is won 
And all ye wished to do is done? 

They all now gave but one reply — 
"It's now the greatest boon to die." 



21 

The Past. 

Thou Past! O who can scau 
Thy vast domain 
Or tell thy age ? Can man ? 
Alas! how vain ! 

Who can thy hist'ry tell, 
Or thee explore? 
How long did chaos dwell 
Around thy shore ? 

Ere tlie command was given — 
''Let there be light" — 
Before the orbs of heaven 
Dispelled the night — 

How many ages rolled? 
Ages of thee ? 
How can thy date he told. 
Eternity ! 

Ages are not thy chronicler, 
Fn that long night. 
There was no life to register 
Time's ceaseless flight. 

No Life and Death were there 

To alternate; 

Nor ever changing year 

To fix thy date. 

No sun to mark the noon, 
In its career — 
No stars, nor feeble moon 
Were shining there. 

How long, with bounds unfixed, 
Were waters rolled ? 
Did light and darkness mixed, 
The earth infold ? 



22 

How long! He only knows 
By whose command 
O'er nlg'htand ocean rose — 
The sky and laud. 

Tliou Past! What hast thou seen 
Of good and ill! 
What changes there have been 
Tliy depths to fill! 

Empires have sunk in thee 
With all their power: 
A common destiny — 
Tliey fight no more. 

Their glory too has perished; 
Their Arts and pride. 
The sciences tliey cherished, 
With them have died. 

Yes, Bahylon, though higii 
Her former towers, 
Now mocks the searching eye 
Beneath thy powers. 

The nmsic of her hall 

Is hushed forever; 

Her feasting monarch's call 

Will wake it never. 

And all her chivalry 
Has bowed to thee. 
Her beauty, rivalry 
Now equal lay, 

O'er all her palaces 
And gardens bright. 
The Lion traverses 
With native right. 



23 

lu vain her massive walls, 
And gates of brass, 
And trumpet's battle call, — 
Denied thy pass. 

Egypt, wliere science dawned, 
Has heard thy call : — 
Too early hast thou warned 
Her name to fall. 

Her glory long lias gone, 

And Arabs roam, 

Wliere knowledge once has slioue, 

And liad its home. 

No more in starry night 
!She breaks her dream. 
To catch from orbs of light 
A mental beam. 

She's gone. The pyramid 
Alone remains: 
But what — it* meaning hid — 
Avails her pains, 

To live beyond her time 
By rearing mounds, 
As if she thought to climb 
Beyond its bounds! 

To thee has ancient Greece 
In glory gone; 
With all the Arts of peace 
Her wisdom won. 

Philosophy! thy home 
Is desolate, 

The Past has o'er it come 
With cruel fate. 



24 

And, Eloquence, thy power 
The past will claim, 
Upou thy native shore, 
Naught but a name. 

Soon must thy transient light 
In foreign clime, 
Be lost, in the dark night 
Of coming time. 

Thy temples, Greece, were reared 
With matchless Art, 
Tliy builders little feared 
That th'r.v'd depart. 

Tiie Past now claims them all. 
Of wiiat is left;— 

(Their wreck) when that shall call, 
Thou'lt be bereft. 

What desolation wide. 
The Past has made! 
And, in its rolling tide, 
What glory laid ! 

O Judea! how sad 
Thy change has been! 
In truth and wisdom elati, 
Once wert thou seen 

From ev^ry lofty hill 

That meets the eyes, — 

In death now calm and still — 

Did incense rise. 

And bj'^ each murm'ring stream — 
On peaks where glowed 
Day's first and latest beam- 
By each abode, 



25 

Thy Altars stood. And th»r», 
At parting day — 
In midnight's silent air — 
By morning's ray, 

And noonday's brighter blaze — 
They lit their fires — 
(An emblem of their praise) 
Thy holy sires. 

But now, how changed the scene! 
How changed art thou ! 
Where are thy Altars seen? 
Where dost thou bow 

To Him, whose mighty hand 
Tliy fathers led, 
To Canaan's fruitful land, 
Through wat'ry bed; 

And througli the wilderues.s 
By cloud of fire; — 
Wlio heard when in distress 
Tiiey raised their prayer; 

And soon their murmurs hushed 
W^ith heavenly food; — 
Who spoke — from rock there gushed 
A cooling flood ; — 

To Him— the great and good. 
Where dost thou bow? 
Where ask for daily food? 
Wliere pay thy vow? 

Thou Past! Blest Palestine 
In tiiee has lost 
Her light and truth divine — 
Her former boast! 



26 

The Temples of her God— 
The only "true"— 
The pilgrims from abroad 
No more cau view. 

The "Empress of the World'' 
Has felt thy power ; 
III thee her sceptre hurled, 
To rise no more. 

Her legions could not stay 
Thy mighty hand; 
Could not control thy way, 
Or thee command. 

Nor Virgil's melody — 
Nor Eloquence, 
In strength and harmony 
Unequalled since — 

Nor Sculptor's skillful hand— 
Nor Painter's eye — 
In which no other land 
With her could vie, 

Could save old Rome from thee: 
Nor Brutus' hand, — 
The foe of Tyranny — 
Could save her land. 

Nor Priesthood's mighty power 
O'er earthly crowns 
Could fix for thee thy shore, 
Or tell thy bounds. 

Rome's works may long endure, 
Though she has gone, 
Yet thou, O Past, art sure 
Of all she's done. 



37 

Thus have Earth's empires died 
Thus have they gone, 
With all their strength and pride, 
With all they won. 

Each having had in turn 
A ruling sway. 
They all to thee return, 
All thee obey. 

In the, our native land 
Has sprung to life. 
As if by magic wand, 
With beauty rife. 

All she has bet^n and done, 
K'en now is thine. 
Perhaps, than, what has shone, 
No more may shine- 

Bhe surely tends to thee 
As time flies fast — 
Her fate in pride or nifamy 
Is thine at last. 

Histoi'y shall fail to tell 
Her name or fate — 
How she arose or fell 
Her being — date — 

Thou hast received thy own, 
Insatiate Past! 
Earth's sceptre and its crown 
In thee are cast; 

And they who've swayed the one, 
Or worn the other, 
No longer rule alone — 
They sleep together. 



28 

The despot rests in thee, 
As well he ought; 
With all the misery 
His actions wrought. 

Thou hast the conquerer too; 
To thee he yields, 
Who, to his country true. 
Has won her fields. 

All of earth's great and good 
Have gone to thee, 
Or stand, where they have stood. 
Whoso destiny 

Will soon become their own — 
Thy sepulchre. 
"Unknowing and unknown" 
They'll sleep secure. — 

Forgotten — undisturbed — 
No praises tliere. 
Will ever more be heard 
Nor censures e'er. 

The present soon is thine 
It's life and joy. 
Will pomp and splendor shine. 
Thou wilt destroy. 

In thee its lofty thrones 
Must crumble soon : 
Must yield to thee its crowns — 
A worthless booii. 

All that we know or do 
Will soon be lost; 
Our name, our nation, too. 
Our pride, our boast. 



29 

The living still demand 
Imnjortal praise. 
Tlie Past, with jiister hand, 
Hides all their ways. 

The present claims its own,- 
And has it too — 
The Past— the Past alone, 
Receives its due. 



Despondency. 

Oh, let me have a secret si)ot 

To lay my weary head, 
Wliere friend or stranger cometh not 

To mourn or mock rhe dead, — 

Where neither verdant mound nor 
Shall mark where I may lay: [stone 

Where only the wild winds shall 
And only breezes stray. [moan, 

Let no one know I lived and died — 
Let no one wish to know; 

None ree me launch on Charon's tide- 
None miss me when I go. 

Let no one know or ask mv name, 

My hist'ry or my fate: 
None mention me in pride or shame — 

None tell their love or hate 

Tiiere let the dews and sunlight fall 
And spring-time blossom fair 

They'll wreath for me a gorgeous pall 
More tit than monarchs wear. 

And I shall nourish fairer forms. 

In beauty blooming rife; 
Nor feel nor fear the mental storms 

That mar a conscious life. 



30 

NON-COMMITTALISM, 

"Well be it so;" these doubtful words 

Are all that I can get, 
To show her love with iiiiQe accords. 

From lips of Susan yet. 

She answers tlnis when'ere I ask 
Wliat s[ie unasked should show: 

Her answers all do seem a task 
Except "well be it so." 

" Well be it so" is soon let off — 

When'ere I ask a kiss; 
She answers thus with cruel laugh 

And never says "Oh! Yes." 

1 tell thee that 1 love thee Sue; 

Now do say yes or no, 
And tell me if you love me too — 

Eh! Yes?— "well be it so." 

Aye— dodging still! I'd rather hear 

A blunt and honest "no." 
Do give me any answer dear 

Excep^ "well be it so." 

What does she mean! I cannot tell! 

But I will test her now; 
Susan, I've come to say farewell — 

"Farewell" — "well be it so." 



Nay; But I Will Die Here, 

Oh no: J will not leave my home 

So hallowed by the past, 
Tlio' changes, sad about it, come 

With stern, bereaving blast. 

Oh no: I will not leave it yet 

Tho' (.lesolate its hall; 
Tlio' none of those I fondly met 

Now answer to my call. 



31 

Oh no: I will not leave its light 
Tho' feeble be its ray, [bright 

To wander where the scenes are 
Rut alien is the way. 

Oh no: I will not leave my home 
To search for fairer skies; — 

It is not gilding on the dome 
That makes the incense rise. 



Song. 

We met wlien day was dawning, 
And cloudless was the sky; 
Bright was the light of morning. 
And bright the sun on high. 

Love made our pathway lighter 
Than light of opening day; 
It made the prospect brighter 
Tiian Sol's meridian ray. 

We met beside the fountain — 
Its cooling stream was clear; 
We met upon tho mountain, — 
Refreshing was the air: 

Vv ithin a fount was gu'shing, 
More dear tlian valley's tide; 
T h o u g h t w a s rn o r e f le e 1 y r u s h i n g. 
Than breeze on mountain's side. 

We met beside the river— 
So calm it seemed +o rest, 
Or Zei>hyr's gentle quiver, 
Gave beauty to its breast. 

Within a stream was stealing— 
Liove's current none can tell; 
But oft a breeze of feeling. 
Would make the bosom swell. 



32 

We met when day was closiug^ 
In rest, her weary eye, 
When Nature was reposing, 
Save stars that gleamed on high. 

Dark were the shades of even, 
And sihiut was tlie air; 
Still — still we found a heaven, 
For Love was smiling there. 



The Rocky Mountains. 

Aye, tliere they stand in grandnnr wild, 
Firm as Creation's base 
With mountain still on mountain piled;— 
Who raised them to their plac<^? 

Did man njoukl thein to please his will? 
Did He their strength impart? — 
Tliey stand and laugh at liuman skill, 
That boasts of matfhless art. 

They stand as tho' to storms of heavon, 
The challenge had been sent. 
To come, before the temjiest driven. 
And give their fitry vont. 

They rear t!)eir lofty battlement 
Against the threat'uing cloud, 
And echo round the firmament. 
The tiiunders, clear and loud. 

In vain the elements combine, 
And vent their feeble spite; — 
Secure, those flinty summits shine. 
.\bove the tempest's might. 

Though lightnings revel round their form, 
And thunders test their power; — 
I^nscathed tiuy bear tiie fiercest storm 
Like fall of mildest shower. 



33 

How weak appears the moital man — 
Wheu standing by thtiir side! 
How impotent his grandest plan! 
How humbled is his pride ! 

1 stand above the murky shroud, 
That wraps the vale below ; 
While skies above, without a cloud, 
Shine with unwonted glow. 

Around is spread a vap'ry tide. 
Far as the eye can reach ; 
Toward east or west— on either side, 
Unbound by distant beach. 

I stand upon a ragged rock, 
Placed here at Nature's birth, 
That well may time and ruin mock- 
Far from tlie noise of earth. 

No eagle soars with silent wing, 
Around this lofty height- 
No warblers that in valleys slug. 
Here hail the morning's light. 

Abstracted thus from scenes of earth, 

My spirit turns to Thee— 

Thou, who did'st give these mountains birth, 

And form this vap'ry sea. 

Thy power, Oh, God, is here displayed ; 
Thy witness here is found; 
Tliese strong foundations Thou hast laid,— 
Thou hast this summit crowned. 

As Nature's Altar does it stand, 
Amid the ether skies: 
Here, may man own Thy mighty hand 
Here bring his sacrifice. 



34 

My heart and feeble tongue awake, 
Jehovah's praise to sing; 
Let anthems once tliis silence break. 
And o'er these mountains ring 

Each ragged cliff and lofty peak, 
In music will rejoice ; 
Will of their Maker's glory speak, 
And aid my feeble voice. 

And as the sound is borne along 
Upon the passing cloud. 
The distant liills will l^;aru the song. 
And join in chorus loud. 



Niagara. 

Well might the children of tne wood 
Bow at thy avvfnl shrine, 
To see the terror of thy flood, — 
The hues that o'er it shine,— 

To hear thy thunders ever roar, — 
Thy stream, exhaustless, fall — 
And feel the trembling ot tlie shore, 
Might well their souls appall. 



To The Church Weather Cock. 

Oh Father, swe on yonder spire 
Tliat cock'rel big and proud 

Has he been put high in tlie air 
To swell and crow aloud ? 

My cliild, 'tis not a living bird. 

But one made up of brass — 
One to be seen and not be heard 

By people as they pass: 
'Tis put there to turn round and show 

Wlieu winds are "out" or fair: 
Only to show how breezes blow 

Tliey've put that Cock'rel there. 



35 

And did they build that steeple high 
So handsomely and slim — 

With all those smaller ones so nigh- 
A roosting place for him ? 

Those handsome spires thus upward 
sent 
Adorn a Christian temple, son, 
Where holy hours in prayer are spent 
And heavenly peace is souffht and 
won. 

Why do tiiey want that cock'rel 

A brazen one won't crow, [then? 
As that to Peter did. I ken 

They'd douse Iiim did he so. 
Are prayers by wind misguided so, 

And sacred songs diverted too, — 
That those who worship first must 
know 

Which way the latest breezes blew? 

If not 'twere better, I should think 
To put that cock'rel on the poop, 

Or on the house built o'er tlie sink, 
Or on the stable, sty or coop. 



To A Dove. 

I envy thee, thou happy dove — 
I envy thee thy wings 

That I like thee might soar above 
Opposing, vexing things. 

I envy thee thy happy lot, 

Secure from sin and sorrow: 

A loving mate, a little cot, 

No doubts about tomorrow. 

T envy thee thy fleeting life — 

It's dawning, course and close 

In happiness 'tis far more rife 
Than man in wisdom knows. 



36 

Contentment. 

Though scanty be my winter store 

And humble be my cot 
I will not covet wealth or power 

Or murmur at my lot — 

Nor station, joy, or hope of gain 
Shall tempt my feet to stray 

From home. where peace and comfort 
Life has no better way, [reign — 

Wealth may adorn another road 

And honor promise fame, 
A palace is a mere abode 

And fame is but a name — 



Thou Art Welcome- 

"Thou art welcome, Oh, tliou warning 
voice." — Mrs Hemans. 

A welcome to thee. Churchyard King 
With flesh less, gaunt and grim 
array, 

Ye will not scare me with a swi ng 
Of that tit emblem of thy sway. 

You are welcome to this lump of clay 
A bundle of disease and sin — 

You are welcome to take this aM-ay 
When there is naught but fllth 
within 

'Twill not resist thy cold embrace, 
Nor will it tremble in thy arms: 

Fit only for thy resting ijlace 
When 'reft of all its spirit-charms 

'Tis all the spoils your vict'ry wins — 
A carcass for the worms to eat. 

Of passions, troubles, sorrows, sins, 
The parent, home and last retreat — 



In the spring of 1838 I was again chosen Selectman and 
AssesiJor, but I resigned the office in a few weeks for the 
reason set forth in the following card published in the Ips- 
wich Register : — 

Mb. Editor: — Permit me to offer a few remarks on the contra- 
dictory announcements which have been made in the Register 
within a few weeks in reference to myself. 

The first statement, that I declined being considered a candidate 
for re-election as Selectman and Assessor, was made because I was 
heartily sick of that office. 

The second, that 1 was re-elected to that office, was made, as well 
as the election itself, without my consent; but considering- the 
flattering and urgent manner in which the office was tendered to 
me, I consented to accept it, though that acceptance was much 
against my feelings and interest. 

And now my resignation must be announced. As there were but 
few present at the meeting on Monday, when it was made, I beg 
leave to state why it was made. 

The town authorized and instructed the Selectmen for last year 
to alter the location of a town way, and settle the damages with the 
owner of the land, and declared that their decision should be final. 
We met the owner of the land — he asked for our authority to act — 
certified copies of the vote of the town were shown him — he was 
satisfied with them— and after several conferences, we contracted 
with him for the amount lie should receive for damage, and varied 
the location as we were instructed to do. A report of our doings 
was made to the town, wiiich was accepted; but the town after- 
wards chose a committee to advise the town whether to fulfill that 
contract — a contract made in accordance with their own instruc- 
tions — a contract, too, wliich they had declared should be final — 

THE TOWN CHOSE A COMMITTEE TO ADVISE THEM WHETHER TO 
FlTIvFILL THAT CONTRACT OR NOT. 

If my townsmen expected me to remain in office after such a de- 
cision, I can assure them that they have most strangely mistaken 
botli my feelings and principles. 

George Haskell. 
Ipswich, April 4, 1838. 
In 1839 a member of the board died, and I was chosen to 



38 

fill the vacancy, there being only one vote thrown against me. 

I was continued in that office by annual re-elections until 
1847, when I refused to serve longer, and the town meeting 
of that year passed unanimously a resolution thanking me 
for the able and faithful manner in which I had performed 
the duties of that office. 

In the fall of 1838 1 was chosen a member of the Legisla- 
ture, but being a new member and a young man, I took no 
active part in the proceedings, but 1 sent a report of the 
daily proceeding to the Ipswich Register, which was pub- 
lished in that paper. I also sent articles on various events 
in Boston, and of some public meetings which I attended, 
and public lectures which I heard, and some of these articles 
may be of interest hereafter as well as now, and are given 
here : — 

BOSTON, JAN. 13, 1839. 

Sunday Mobning. The Sun had just risen above the 
massy piles of brick and mortar, when we commenced a walk to 
enjoy the clear, bracing air of the morning, musing on the mighty 
change which one single night had effected in the appearance of 
the city. But a few hours ago, and the busy hum of industry in its 
numberless avocations and pursuits, gave life and tumult to the 
now silent and desolate streets. In wandering over the hills and 
through the valleys of our ancient town, contemplating the scenes 
around us — the boundless and unscauned ocean, an emblem of that 
eternity to which Time's ceaseless currents have ever flown, whose 
depths are unfilled and unsearchable — in listening to the joyous 
music of Nature's songsters — beJiolding the contented life of the 
animal creation around us — surveying the multiplied forms of wis- 
dom and beauty in the vegetable kingdom — in such a ramble, 
though alone, we could not be solitary. But here, the contrast be- 
tween the world ot yesterday and the world of today was so great* 
that we could not be otherwise. What now can occupy the thoughts 
of the restless multitudes? All around is so calm and still, they 
must, we should think, be silently reviewing their conduct during 
the irreclaimable past— perhaps offering the prayer of penitence 



.39 

foi' pardon — perhaps reflecting on their obligations to their race and 
their God — perhaps preparing by meditation to unite more accept- 
ably in the service of the Sanctuary, 

Then we thought of the past, and conned in imagination the fut- 
ure. But little more than two centuries ago, and Nature reigned 
here In unmarred beauty and in unsubdued sublimity! But now, 
how altered! And in the fuiure, how remote we know not, that reign 
will be resumed. Time will subdue the massy monuments of skill 
and pride. Even the marble and granite will crumble into their 
original elements, and the courtly mansion will be supplanted by 
the glorious forest, where men now crowd tlie busy mart, the slend- 
er reed shall rise, uncrushed save by the step of the wild deer, and 
unshaken except by the passing breeze. When the solemn bell 
commenced, we wended our way to church. It now seemed as 
though every tenement was disgorging itself of Vanity and Fash- 
ion ; and the occupation of the morning was clearly made known. 
The precise adjustment of the garments on both sexes — the extreme 
caution lest it should be disturbed, and their morning efforts to 
appear will be frustrated — the haughty, roundabout, and half indig- 
nant survey tliey took of each other, and the complacent, half- 
grinning examination they made of their own garments, palpably 
contradicted my former musings on their morning duties. 



BOSTON, JAN. 23, 1839. 
Wednesday Afteknoon. — We attended the Anti-Slavery Con- 
vention, and a greater exhibition of zeal, passion, tumult and foren- 
sic talent we never witnessed in any assembly. The subject of dis- 
cussion was a resolution for the establishment of a new anti-slavery 
paper, as the organ of the Mass. Anti-Slavery Society. Thi.s resolu- 
tion was sustained by Torry, St. Clair, Stanton, Philips, and others 
unknown to us. It was opposed by Phelps, Thompson, Loring and 
Johnson. We liave not room for the arguments in full, and will 
merely give the substance of what was said on both sides. The ob- 
jections to the Liberator were, tliat it would not advocate the politi- 
cal action of the Abolitionists, except in a hypothetical manner — 
that it inculcates non-resistance, and has thus become unpopular — 
that it gave much matter under the refuge of oppression, against 
the abolitionists, and then rejected their articles for want of room. 
Wendell Phillips sustained the Liberator most eloquently — stating 



40 

that it was conducted on the only principle on which an anti- 
slavery paper ought to be conducted — with no party or sectarian 
bias. As for political action, he begged the society to remember 
the fate of the anti-masonic party, and not to commit their own to 
the same unhonored grave. Mr. Hilton (colored) spoke well, gram- 
mar aside, in defence of Garrison when he was living on bread and 
water to sustain the Liberator — he was by him when the genteel 
mob dragged him through the streets of Boston — he had known 
him in days of trial and danger for the last eight years, and had 
Sben him stand firm to the principles and cause in which he had 
embarked, and if Garrison was not a simon pure, sincere abolition- 
ist, then neither he or his colored brethren would ever trust or con- 
fide in a man with a white face again. This was received with a 
response that made the Temple shake. Mr. Garrison said the accu- 
sation from his brother Stanton, that he was recreanr to the cause 
of the slave, was the most cutting of all. He had been with liim 
week by week, and his brother never intimated that his paper was 
deficient in any respect. On the contrary, Stanton had overburden- 
ed its columns on political action- in the 4th District election. As 
to his recreancy to the cause, he believed he had been regarded as 
the friend of the colored man and the slave, and he hoped, what- 
ever might be the fate of the Liberator, that he had their confi- 
dence as such. "You have," "you have," was responded from every 
part of the chapel, and this exclamation was followed by a cheer 
that spoke more eloquently and sincerely than the tongue of man 
ever did. He said the circulation of the Liberator was 4000 — that 
its non-resistance matter was on both sides of tlie question, and 
that it occupied on an average not more than one and a half col- 
umns per week of the twenty in the paper — that it was for the dis- 
cussion of slavery, and on that account an opportunity was given 
for both sides to be heard — that he did urge men to be consistent, 
and if they went to the polls, to vote in support of their abolition 
principles in preference to their partisan feelings. 

The resolution was finally postponed indefinitely, although there 
is no doubt but a new paper will be established, but not as the organ 
of the society. Erroneous as Garrison is, in our opinion, in regard 
to nou-resistence and the perfectibility of human nature, yet the 
devotion of his youth, his time, his talents, and his energies to the 
cause of abolition — a cause which seeks to restore man to his rights 



41 

as man, and to the just and accountable position which he, as a 
moral being', sustains towards his Creator — liis early and constant 
devotion to, and sacrifices for this jflorious cause, are more than 
sufficient to atone for all his errors. Identified as he is with aboli- 
tion, as its pioneer and herald, no attempts to supplant him, or to 
rob him of the merit which is his due, can be successful. The past 
is secure to him — history will take care of that — the dangers, toils, 
privations and difficulties will only add to the harmony and power 
of that poBan which will be raised by thousands, aye, millions of 
men, rejoicing in the light, knowledge, and liberty of freemen, to 
the memory of him the first advocate of their deliverence. — He 
may never hear that praise — it may be, with the consummation of 
his labors, far in the dim and distant future — but if there is any 
uniformity, any fixedness in moral excellence, and if it be such to 
labor for the elevation of mankind, so sure it is that this praise will 
be rewarded him, sooner or later. We speak of him merely as an 
abolitionist, as we do not like either his political or his religious 
notions. 

Thursday morning the Convention met in Fanuel Hail for the 
first time. We could not be present, but hear they made a real 
jubilee of it. In the afternoon the discussion was on tlie report cf 
the managers of the society, in which something was said about 
political action. This ai^pears to be the rock on which the society 
will split— Stanton, Scott and others affirming it to be the duty of 
abolitioniscs to exert their influence politically. Wendell Fhillips 
and others were opposed to any such test, wei'e for putting their 
cause on a higher ground, and for leaving every member to act, 
politically, as he saw tit. In tlie evening they met in the Repre- 
sentatives' Hall, which was crowded almost to suffocation. We 
have made this letter so long that we cannot say much of the 
speeches, but that of M. Phillips was a classical, fervent and inter- 
esting address — more so than any we ever heara on this subject. If 
we could do justice to this address, we should not be afraid of wor- 
rying your readers. We cannot do it justice, and will merely 
express a hope that it will be published. He congratulated the 
society on the change in public sentiment within the last few years. 
— They were now admitted to this Hall and to the Cradle of Liber- 
ty, which a few years ago were closed against them. We have said 
thus much on the division of the Abolitionists, as it is likely to 



42 

have an important bearing before many years on all our political 
questions and parties, and it may be instructive to know how, and 
why, these divisions and questions were raised. 

P. Q. X. 



BOSTON, FEB. 6, 1839. 
Mb. Editor:— 
In a ramble about the city this afternoon, we met three funerals, 
all slowly wending their way in different directions, yet all bound 
to the final resting place of man. No solemn knell was heard to 
admonish the gay and busy that death was in their midst, and tbat 
a fellow mortal was journeying to that "bourne from whence 
there is no return." The passing throng went by these processions 
apparently without noticing them, or indulging a single thought 
on the lesson they teach. Decrepit age, bowing over its staff, care- 
fully felt its way along the sidewalk, nor seemed to think of the 
nearness of that final step which terminates its earthly journey — 
Manhood, with thoughtful mein went by, indifferent to all that 
was passing around him, undoubtedly calculating how he should 
fill his store-house, nor thinking there is but one which he must 
surely fill — Youth, passing with pride and laughter, regarded not 
the scene — Childhood only looked one moment at the "j)omp of 
woe," and then renewed its joyous pastimes. None seemed lo 
know or care who died or who mourned. All went on their way as 
though these scenes were nothing to them; and yet they all bear 
the same relations in life which the dead and mourning bore, and 
are all liable to the same bereavements and the same fate. There 
appears to be none of that interest in the fate of others here, which 
makes the villager so attached to his neighborhood. Though this 
interest sometimes leads to officious intermeddling, still it is a 
source of much happiness; and it is one of the curses of a city, 
where so many crowd together who are strangers to each other, 
that all sympathy seems to be driven out of their hearts by the 
very number of the objects which call for it. We followed a little 
way in the rear of one funeral, reflecting on the fate of man, the 
repose of the dead, and tlie quietude of the grave. Why should 
men dread these? The tumult of passions will never again per- 
vade the breast of yonder dead — the strife of this world will never 
more disturb it — nor earthly hopes deceive it — nor labor weary it — 



43 

nor siu pollute it — uor envy curse it— nor love perplex it — nor 
doubt distract it — uor sickness pain it — nor fear invade it — nor hate 
debase it — nor sorrow rend it — nor death again subdue it. Calmly 
it will repose, nor heed the commotions wiiich rage over its flnal 
resting place. The storms of men and the elements will trouble it 
not, — alike beyond their reacli and power, it will be silently re- 
moulded to new and beautiful existences to adorn its own sepul- 
chre. When the '"time of tlie singing of the birds is come," then 
shall the humble violet and may-flower spring from its corruption, 
annually to adorn the spot, and to nieet in autumn the fate of the 
siumberer beneath. Why is man loth to break the clogging chain 
that binds his soul to earth ? Why not cheerfully release the 
spirit from its "prison house of clay," and permit to soar in its na- 
tive element beyond the reach of time and sin? Why does he cling 
to hopes and joys of earth, nor willingly wing his way for that 
abode he hopes to find — the dwelling of his God? Why does he 
look behind with jealous care for what he leaves, nor raise his vis- 
ion to behold the bright prospect unfolding before him ? 

Death is not a violation of Nature's laws, nor a deviation from her 
proper course. On the other hand it is the fulfillment of her laws, 
and the consummation of our existance. It is as much a part of our 
being as any other incident that necessarily occurs duringour mor- 
tal pilgrimage. Neither can we find ruin in it. The flower, bloom- 
ing with beauty and fragrance in the morning, ere eve may wither 
and die. Man mourns it not. He knows the vernal shower and 
sunshine will summon from the earth another as bright and beauti- 
ful as the first. Bo it is with the generations of men. They come — 
remain tlieir allotted term — are followed by others who in their 
turn are supplanted by others still. There is a continuous change 
from life to death and from death to life going on in every living 
thing — and disorganization and ieorgaiiization in all inanimate 
matter: — but ruin is found no where. All decay is but the trans- 
formation from one form of beauty and existence to another. But 
we are writing too long a sermon, and we fear that the reader will 
hardly have patience to read thus far, without scolding at the trite- 
ness of the subject. Being in the mood we have written, but shall 
leave it for you or them to judge the matter. We said none of the 
passers by appeared to consider the lesson which the burial of the 
dead might teach them. Youth could learn that the joy and hopes 



44 

of their state are brief as the glory of the morning — that 'tis only 
the beauty of the mind, which can survive death's touch unmarred 
and unpolluted. Manhood, in its strength might learn that it must 
eventually bow to the stern monarch, though it mav for a while 
sustain the unequal contest, and that its unsatisfied desires for hon- 
or or wealth will not avail for any delay. Age can view it as the 
termination of its iatirmities and as the prelude to reunion of long 
sundered ties. The Christian can regard it as the fruition of his 
hopes and confirmation of a faith wiiich alone can scorn death's 
power, and which will be triumphant over it even when the grave 
APPEARS victorious. P. Q. X. 

In 1839, while yet undecided about a removal to the west, 
Asa Andrews, one of the oldest members of the Essex bar, 
and who was a near neighbor, called upon me, saying he 
had heard the rumor of my intention to go west, and that 
he had called upon me to protest against it. I replied that 
the cultivation of the soil was peculiarly agreeable to me, 
and that it had always been a pleasure to plant, and tend 
plants. 

He said that he knew enough of me to know that 1 was 
capable of better things and more important work, and my 
endowments were such that I might become a capable and 
successful lawyer. To my suggestion that I needed the pre- 
liminary education, he replied, that diligent application to 
the studies really necessary would obviate that objection. 
He urged me to take some of his books and examine the 
field of study ; adding that it would be wicked for me to 
bury myself in the western woods in such a useless life. 

I took some of his books and soon became deeply interest- 
ed in the study of the common law, its necessity for the 
government of the public, its early provisions, and its 
modification from age to age, as the advancing civilization 
of the race required. I therefore concluded to "Study 
Law," which I did with constant diligence for three years. 



45 

In the fall of 1840 1 was elected to the Legislature. Dur- 
ing the canvass, Amasa Walker and George Bancroft, the 
historian, came to Ipswich, and delivered addresses in be- 
half of the Democratic party. I prepared a reply, or review, 
of their addresses which was regarded as so useful for the 
Whigs that a large number were printed and circulated in 
this part of the state. Those reviews may be interesting now, 
as showing the issues upon which the Harrison campaign ot 
1840 was conducted, and they are given as published in the 
Freeman and Whig, in October, 1840 :— 

Mr Editor. — Mr. Collector Bancroft has been here to en- 
lighted us on the nature and principles of Democracy, and 
perhaps! a few remarks in reply to his address might not be 
amiss, as it is said he delivered the same address in Haver- 
hill, Newburyport and other towns. After considerable flour- 
ish about the "eternity and identity of truth and Democra- 
cy," he finally told us, poor benighted mortals, "that de- 
mocracy was the application of morals to public affairs." 
We suppose this means, that the Van Buren party perform 
their public duties with uncommon regard to good morals. 
Those who have seen how they perform, these duties will 
hardly believe this. The Whig democratic doctrine is this : 
— that all political power is in the people ; not in the wealth 
— not in the learning — not in the official authority of any 
man or class of m.en, but in the voice or expressed will of the 
whole people ; — that government and laws are instituted 
and should be administered for the public good ; and not for 
the benefit of any man, or class of men, or any party. This is 
Whig democracy ; how does Mr. Bancroft's look by the side 
of it. Mr. B. found much fault with Hamilton's conduct as 
Secretary of the Treasury under Washington. To this we will 
only reply, that whatever Hamilton did in his official capac- 
ity at the time alluded to, was done with the advice and con- 



sent of George Washington; and it cannot be necessary for 
us to defend what Washington recommended, merely because 
Geokge Bancroft says it was wrong. 

He said "the Whigs had involved the States in immense 
Rail road debts," and ''that the liabilities of Massachusetts 
therefore amounted to more than S5, 000, 000, and this enor- 
mous debt was incurred by the Whigs." Mark the duplicity 
of the fellow in speaking of our debts ; when we are liable, 
only as an endorser is, who has taken a mortgage to secure 
himself However, we will not defend these loans — we never 
thought them right or wise, and there are as many Whigs as 
Van Buren men of this opinion. But we ma^^ deny the truth 
of his assertion, that these loans were made by the Whigs. 
We speak from personal knowledge on this point ; these 
loans, could not have been obtained if the Van Buren mem- 
bers had voted against them. On the contrary, every loan, 
from the first to the last, has been granted by the aid of the 
Van Buren members of the Legislature, and by the preaching 
of Mr. Rantoul, jr. who has been, and Amasa Walker who 
now is, a director in a Western road ; and both ot whom are 
leaders in, and preachers of Van Burenism. Whig policy, for- 
sooth ! look at the two States which are in the worst condi- 
tion by this rail road policy — Pennsylvania and Illinois. Nei- 
ther of them has had a Whig Legislature for twelve years, we 
believe, and yet Pennsylvania has a debt of $33,000,000, and 
a direct tax to pay the interest thereon, which was imposed, 
too, by the Van Buren party that created the debt. So, too, 
of Illinois. She has alwa3's had Van Buren rulers, and they 
have run her into a debt of $13,000,000, while she has not 
half the population and not one quarter the capital of Mas- 
sachusetts. This is the the condition of States that have al- 
ways supported and still cling to the Van Buren party. Yet 
they try to cast all the fault of this miserable policy upon 



the Whigs, They cannot do it. lie said all these State debts 
would be assumed by the General Government within one 
year after Gen. Harrison's election. Of course, he knows 
this, or he would not say so. But how he knows is a mystery. 
We do not believe one word of it. On the contrary, the 
Whigs ; both as a party, and through their presses and public 
men, have continually and unanimously condemned and dis- 
avowed such a policy. And yet this Lecturer, and his co- 
workers, repeat and reiterate the accusation against us, 
with the most indecent pertinacity, and in open violation of 
their own principles of democracy' — that of "applying morals 
to politics." The Whigs nc^t only condemn the policy of as- 
sumption, but they also deny the right and power of the 
general government to assume one dollar of these debts. 
But he said we wanted "to assume State debts by distribut- 
ing the revenue from the sale of public lands." That is, to as- 
siiiiie Staff debts by takin.ij of our share of mon.i'y tkat belongs to us\ 

Strange logic ! Strange assumption this These lands were 
owned, conquered or purchased by the Atlantic States ; a 
part of them were gained by the revolution, and in the ac- 
quisition of these Massachusetts spent some blood and 
treasure, and why, pray, when the General Government does 
not need the money — why should not she receive her part of 
the money for the land which they sell? We will tell why. At 
the time this distribution was contemplated, Mr. Van Buren 
wanted votes in the Western States, and his leading sup- 
porters, Benton and Calhoun introduced a plan of surrend- 
ering these lands, amounting to 130 millions of acres, to the 
States in which they lie. But the Whigs wanted to divide the 
money received for them among all the States, and by this 
plan Massachusetts would have received several millions, 
and by the other plan nothing. .\t this time the General 
Government did not want the money, as there was 40 mil- 



48 

lions in the Treasury, and if either plan had been adopted 
no increase of the duties would have been necessary. But 
now the expenditures of the administration have increased, 
so as to use up all the revenue from customs, lands and Treas- 
ury NOTES TO BOOT, Of coursc, the party in power do not 
now want to have this part of the revenue given up to any 
States, or by either plan. The gentlemen therefore inquires 
"what is the use of dividing this when you will have to in- 
crease the duties on importations, and thus tax the consum- 
er?" Nobody proposes or desires to do any such thing. We 
only ask, that when you .sell public lands, which belong in 
part to us, that you will pay us, of Massachusetts, our part 
of the money ; and not use it to reward political favorites. 
But the gentleman says "if we do this, you must pay us 
more duties." We say no ; cut down your expenses to the 
good old standard, and you will find it convenient to divide 
the revenue from public lands among the States. But the 
gentleman says, this is our mode ol assuming the State 
debts. It is a sufficient answer to this, that this distribu- 
tion was proposed five or six years ago, before many of 
these debts were contracted or even contemplated, and long 
before it had entered the imagination of our opponents, that 
this charge of assumption would make a good bugbear. And 
how taking money, due us from the General Government, is 
assuming the debts of other States, is mysterious. 

He also said w^e should have a National Bank within one 
year after Harrison's election. We do not believe this, but 
he knows it of course. He said that if another Bank was char- 
tered it would cause a great deal of distress to the commer- 
cial community, and trouble to the local Banks. And how ? 
Why, he said that to take up the stock of such a bank, it 
would be necessary to draw all the money now deposited in 
the local banks, and such would be the effect, to the great 



49 

embarrassment of both banks and community. The money 
is now lying idle on deposit ; but if you invest it in a bank 
which will loan it to the community, why the community 
will have less. What profound logic ! What financial skill ! 
Taking money to establish a Bank will make money scarcer! 
By this rule, the more banks we have, the scarcer money 
will be. But it is not true it would require all the deposits 
in the banks to take up the stock of a new bank, if one 
should be chartered. The deposits in the banks last January, 
were $75,696,857, and for the last seven years they have 
ranged from that amount up to $127,297,185, averaging 
more than $90,000,000 — a larger amount than the desired 
capital of any bank. 

He next attempted to say something against the influence 
of employers over the politics or vote of the employed ; but 
his heart seemed to fail him on this point — probably he 
thought, just then, of the government — a very great employ- 
er, who will have no one employed about their business who 
is not of their party. He said economy was commendable: — 
with a salary of $4000 and perquisities worth $2000 more 
he could preach economy consistently. He said Mr. Van 
Buren did not buy the gold spoons ; but he did not deny, 
that he had spent $1307 for three window curtains, and 
$2000 for gold leaf and guilding for the Palace— these and 
many other similar expenditures, he did not deny, and could 
not deny with truth. But he said Mr. Van Buren did not 
ask for these appropriations— he only spent them — that's all, 
as though he was obliged to spend them. He indulged in 
one flout at Gen. Harrison's military character. This was 
most unfortunate for him, for such slurs come with an ill 
grace from the present military administration, which has 
spent six years and more than thirtj' millions of dollars in 
attempting to conquer a few thousand Indians, and which 



50 

has been compelled after all, to form an alliance with Cuban 
bloodhounds to finish the work. He had much to say about 
the sub-treasury, but few arguments. These few we will 
briefly examine. He said it would benefit the banks by regu- 
lating and checking their issues ; and by doing this it would 
keep the paper currency good and thus benefit the farmer, 
laborer and everybody else. But how is it to regulate and 
check the banks ? He begged this question, and then in- 
ferred the rest as though this was granted. He argued alto- 
gether on the ground that we should certainly have a good 
paper currency with the Sub-Treasury, and a bad one with- 
out it. But the fact is, we have had a good paper currency 
without this scheme and can have again. Nor do we believe 
this can have any effect to rectify a bad currency. If this 
plan is such a remedy for these evils, why do they not apply 
it, (if they can find a way to,) to the suspended banks of 
Pennsylvania and Mississippi ol their own creation. But 
how will they make it reach the banks at all ? He tells us 
that when government receives much money, it being collect- 
ed in specie, will cause a demand on the banks for specie. In 
answer to this it may be said, that this call, instead of being 
a wholesome check, may be made when the banks have not 
an excessive circulation, and will it not then be oppressive ? 
Besides, he says the government will never have more than 
$5,000,000 on hand at any one time. Whereas the banks 
had $33,105,155 in specie in their vaults last January, and 
for the five previous years it has averaged $36, -AST, 829. So 
that if the greatest amount, which he says the government 
would ever have on hand, was taken from the banks, they 
would still have $30,000,000 left ; and one would think they 
might get along pretty comfortably with that ; — at least 
they would not be under the regulation and control of the 
Sub-Treasury with the $5,000,000 only. He also said that 



51 

by checking the banks — they would have to check their cus- 
tomers — and they in turn would have to Icirsen their busi- 
ness and thus it would stop over-trading. Now how the 
collection and abstraction of $5,000,000 can control the 
whole business of the country, when the Manufactures of 
Massachusetts alone amount to ninety millions annually, 
we cannot comprehend. We ask the attention, however, of 
every candid man to his statement of the operation of the 
Sub-Treasury as given above (and it is correctly given;) and if 
true, does it not put the whole business and currency of the 
country, and every man's business also, under the thumb of 
the Sub-Treasurers ? Such power its friends give it — are the 
people ready to approve such a scheme ? He did not show 
its bad effects on men who owed money, or on men who had 
nothing but their labor to rely upon, and who therefore de- 
sire high wages. No, he said nothing about this, nor about 
the security of the public funds, which ought to be the first 
consideration on this subject — he was too prudent to touch 
these topics. We would ask, however, if a man wanted to 
deposit money in Boston, would he deposit it with Isaac 
Hill, or in one of the best banks in the city? Government 
had the same choice — have they chosen wisely ? 

He intimated through his whole lecture that the Whigs 
wanted, or would have, a debased or bad paper currency, 
and that Van Buren men, and they only, were in favor of, 
or would have a good one. In reply to this, we again will 
refer to the Van Buren States of Pennsylvania and Missisip- 
pi, and ask every man to compare their currency with that 
of the Whig States of New York and Massachusetts ; and 
they will then see which party maintains in practice the 
best currency. 

Practice is the best test of the wisdom of political princi- 
ples. And if the measure of the Whigs, in the States where 



52 

they have the power, have secured to the people a more 
safe, stable and uniform circulation, than the Van Buren 
party have maintained in their States, (and such is the fact,) 
is it not the best— is it not conclusive evidence, of the su- 
perior wisdom and utility of the Whig policy. 

A HARRISONIAN. 
Ipswich, Oct. 22, 1840. 



Mr Editor— Since we wrote to you in reply to Mr. Ban- 
croft's address, Mr. Amasa Walker has been here to expound 
the currency question. He disclaimed all political expecta- 
tions, said he should not refute the Whig slanders ; and that 
the public money was not under the control of the adminis- 
tration, as they could not touch a dollar of it without going 
to the State prison. But suppose they ran away — no rare 
thing — how can we catch them ? Suppose the President tells 
the sub-treasurer to remove it somewhere else, (as Jackson 
told Duane,) or he will appoint another who will remove it 
where he says: can't he do so? He Sfiid they wanted a 
radical change in the currency, of which the Sub-Treasury 
was the commencement. Why did he not tell us what 
they wanted next ? Have we not had enough of their 
"tinkering" and sscheming? He said we did not need banks 
for exchanges ; there was a natural exchange, which was 
a sort of barter. But suppose we wanted to pay for $10,- 
000 worth of cotton in New Orleans, and we find natur- 
al exchange in several men's hands who have sent shoes and 
other manufactures there for sale, but they ask five per cent, 
premium. If there is no other exchange but natural, we 
must pay them $500 premium. But if we have a paper cur- 
rency of equal value throughout the country, we could put a 
bank bill of that kind into a letter, and get the funds there 
for fifty cents ; and by noting the date and number of the 



53 

bill, (so as to identify it,) without any risk. Is not this 
better than his ''natural" exchange? He said Gov. Davis 
attempted to prove that the Sub-Tieasury would cut down 
wages to TEN PENCE a day. — This is a downright falsehood; 
yet it is the assertion of a man who pretends to be too con- 
scientious to bet! He said it would regulate the banks, but 
this it cannot do, as we showed in our former letter. He 
thought it the best plan for government and community, 
but nineteen out of every twenty merchants in Boston 
thought otherwise ; yet, from his reflections and reading, he 
thought they were wrong ! He condemned the local banks ; 
said that in Massachusetts they issued S14 of paper to SI of 
specie: in Alabama 8100 ; and in Mississippi a cart load. 
This is not true in any one particular. And what is most 
imfortunate for his argument, instead of being the fault of 
the Whigs, the two last States are now and always have 
been under the control of the Van Buren and Sub-Treasury 
party. He said that when he first heard that Jackson had 
vetoed the Bank, he said it was a good thing, though he 
then expected to lose $10,000 by it, as he had $500,000 of 
exchange afloat. But he was mistaken ; "instead of losing 
ten, he lost fifty thousand by it but he did not mind that 
MUCH, as his conscience approved the measure !" These are 
his own words — a most unlucky confession. Here is one man, 
(and he not one ot the greatest merchants by any means,) 
losing $50,000, if he tells the truth, not by the banks, but 
by Jackson's veto and "tinkering" of the currency. No 
wonder he failed ; no wonder at the prostration of business, 
when we consider how many merchants would lose in the 
same way. But he says, though he lost the amount by the 
veto, all the others suffer by overtrading and unsound 
banks. What absurdity ! Yet he told us he had had as much 
connection with the currencv as anv mnn of his age, and had 



54 

been a bank director, but was not now! He said he had 
sold $4-00,000 worth of goods to customers in Missouri, 
and had not lost $4,000. because they had no banks there. 
The fact is. they had a branch of the U. S. bank there till the 
charter expired in 1836, and have had a "State bank" for 
two years past. Illinois, he said, w^as completely bankrupt: 
this can't be the fault of the Whigs, surel3^ He gave a dole- 
ful account of Alton; he had sold there S15,000 worth of goods 
and lost 810,000 of it. We recollect that this Mr. Walker was 
in Alton two or three years ago, and delivered a speech at a 
Railroad meeting there. He then complimented this city on 
its enterprise and flattering prospects ; spoke in favor of 
their railroad schemes, (which have nearly ruined them,) 
and even advocated their extension to Boston ! 2000 miles ! 
But he can now laugh at "picture cities" — pigmy specula- 
tions to his railroad scheme. He said he wanted a currency 
which no President could overturn as Jackson did the old ; 
though the Sub-Treasury is under the administration. Yet 
the currency will be independent oi the administration. This 
was his reasoning. He told his party not to fear : they were 
on the Democratic side, and were supporting their own in- 
terest. This caution was necessary : many, very many real 
Democrats do not think the Sub-Treasury Democratic, nor 
do they think it will promote their interest or that of the 
country at large. 

He told us it would stop speculation. Let us see how. 
Suppose there are two traders, one of whom has ^10.000 
in cash, and the other nothing but his good credit to do 
business upon. It surely will not stop the speculations of 
the rich man, for he has got his cash on hand : on the con- 
trary, b}'^ lessening the price of the article he deals in, it will 
enable him to buy up more with his SIO.OOO, to hold for 
a higher price. Take flour, for instance, if it is $9 per barrel, 



55 

he can buy up only 1111 barrels ; but if it is only $5, he can 
buy up 2000 barrels. It will be seen at once, thi^t the lower 
the price is, the easier it is for men who have the monej' to 
buy up an article and control the market. So it will not 
stop the rich man's speculations, but will give him addition- 
al power of oppression and extortion. We think it will stop 
the poor man from trading in a great degree ; though equal- 
ly as honest and capable as the rich trader, he will have to 
leave the rich trader without the trouble- 

some competition of the poor, who must sell when the 
day of payment comes, even if he gets a small profit. But 
Mr. Walker says it will not be so ; that he would sooner 
trust a man of good credit for S10,000 under Sub-Treasury 
times, than for $2000 under OLD times. If it is true, that a 
poor man will be able to get five times as much on credit as 
he could formerly, (and that is what he says,) how will it 
stop him from speculating? There is another point deserv- 
ing notice. If money is scarcer, and prices lower, how will 
it effect the young and enterprising, who have hired money 
to pay for their farms or dwelling houses? If money is 
scarcer, interest wont be lower, that is certain. 

Now suppose a farmer or mechanic owes $1000 for which 
he pays $60 interest, 'Tis true, he pays but six per cent, if 
money is scarcer : but if the price of produce falls, will he not 
have to sell more of it to get $60? Or if a mechanic, and 
labor falls, will he not have to work more days to earn the 
interest? This is certainly not a good system for them. But 
how will it effect the nabob who loans them the money ? He 
will get but his six per cent, but when he pays this again to 
the farmer for produce, or to the mechanic for labor, will 
it not go farther or get more of these, than it would when 
prices were higher ? Then is not this in fact giving him a 
higher rate of interest, and taking it out of the other classes ? 



56 

He told us the laboring classes would be better off with 
low wages ; that while wages had fallen from $1.25 to $1, 
flour had fallen from $9.50 to $5.00, pork from 30c. to 17c, 
butter from 22c, to 16c, and cheese from 10c. to 8c.; and 
this was a greater proportion than the reduction on wages. 
This was a bad story to tell our farmers, quite as numerous 
and important a class as the laborers. Yet he told the 
farmers it would be a benefit to them by teaching them 
economy ! when there was a prospect of high prices, they 
were apt to be extravagant. What considerate kindness it 
was, for a broken merchant to give them this advice ! But 
the consumer is not sure these reductions will continue ; if 
there should be a short crop, or if prices should rise in other 
countries, they will here, though his wages will not. But 
will the laboring men, who constitute the vast majority of 
our citizens, believe that lower wages will improve their con- 
dition or circumstances ? We do not believe they will, when 
the whole history of mankind, from the time Adam was 
commanded to till the earth down to the present time, 
proves, that in every age— among every nation — in every 
land — and under every government, the people have been 
most intelligent, prosperous, happy and free, where labor 
has received the highest recompense. This is too serious a 
question to be decided by the theoretical speculations of 
politicians, involving, as it does, the welfare of a great ma- 
jority of mankind ; and it certainly is singular that a Demo- 
cratic administration should recommend a system that will 
reduce wages. — The fact is, labor has never been half paid 
in its best estate. For if we contrast it with other employ- 
ments, we shall find that it has always yielded a poor re- 
compense compared with theirs. Yet labor is the origin of 
all real wealth ; the shoemaker, for instance, adds to the 
value of the leather, by putting it into forms of comfort and 



b7 



use ; the blacksmith by converting iron to forms of necessity' 
and convenience; and every other mechanic and manufactur- 
er by his labor makes the article he works upon more .valu- 
able to the public, by adapting it to the uses of mankind. 
The same is true of the farmer, by whose labor the necessaries 
of life are extracted from the soil and added to the gener- 
al wealth of the community. The same is also true of the 
sailor and fishermen, who draw their treasures from the 
ocean, rivers, or clam-banks. All these add to the public 
wealth, as there is something produced or provided by their 
labor for the use of mankind. It may be safely asserted that 
without labor, there is^ no addition to the real wealth of a 
people; and will any Democrat say that these producing 
classes get too much pay ? And yet the Van Buren party 
say so ; at least, their measures reduce the wages of these 
classes, and then they come forward to prove that low wages 
are good; or as Mr. Walker stated it, "that they were best 
off when they received least, and worst off when they re- 
ceived most." We do not believe this. These classes are not 
half paid in comparison with the non-producing classes. 
The Lawyers, Ministers, Physicians and Traders, do not, 
directly, add one cent to the common stock of propert}', j'et 
they all, except ministers, generally add pretty fast to their 
own stock ; while others, who by a life of industry have been 
adding continually to the general wealth, have received but 
a scanty living from the society they have thus benefittd. 

Do not misunderstijnd us. Ever\^ man cannot be his own 
shop-keeper, Doctor, Lawyer and Minister, and all these 
professions are absolutely ne( essary. We want traders, to 
buy our productions and sell us others — we want doctors, 
to mend our bodies and our bones — we want ministers, to 
enlighten, wound, and then quiet our consciences — and we 
want lawyers to protect our rights and redress injuries done 



58 

our persons or property ; we could not get along in civilized 
society without these, and yet they do not add anything to 
the general amount of wealth or property. Though the com- 
pensation of the workingmen has been so low — so unreason- 
ably low — in comparison with these professions, yet the Van 
Buren party, or rather their leading men and lecturers, justi- 
fy and sustain a reduction in that compensation. We know 
they say they are not in favor of it ; but they have brought 
it about, and now they tell us it is a good thing— a grand 
thing for the working men ! No one question, to be incident- 
ally decided with this political contest, is of more import- 
ance than this, "whether the recompense of the producing 
classes shall be what it has been, or shall continue to fall 
through the next four years ?" The decision of this question, 
thanks to the wisdom of our fathers, lies with the laboring 
men. Knowing this fact, and relying on their intelligence 
for a discernment of the true issue, and on their independent 
action for a corresponding ballot, we cannot doubt the re- 
sult. A HARRISONIAN. 
Ipswich, Oct. 26, 184-0. 

In the Legislature of 1841, very fortunately no committee 
or other legislative work was assigned to me, and I had a 
good opportunity to read the works on Law in the State 
Library, which are not often found in private libraries — 
especially Justinian's Institutes, the great fouiitain of the 
Civil Law, which 1 read with avidity and actual pleasure, 
affording as it does a knowledge of the philosophy of the 
law as well as its history, although furnishing few precedents 
for our times. 

During this session I contributed regularly to the "Whig 
AND Freeman," a paper published at Lynn. Not much 
interest now attaches to proceedings of the House of Repre- 



59 

sentatives or to many of the other matters then under con- 
sideration of the public, but a few of them of permanent in- 
terest are inserted here, especially Prof. Walker's Lec- 
ture on Natural Religion : 

Boston, January 16, 1841. 

We attended a Lecture of the -'Lowell Institute," last Tuesday 
eveuiug. It was the first of a course on "Natural Religion," and the 
lecturer was Professor Wa'ker, of Harvard University He show- 
ed the faults of the published works on this subject. He thought 
that Butler's Analogy, good as it wa'* in some respects, was on the 
whole ill adapted to the present age. Instead of removing difficul- 
ties wliich presented themselves to the mind, it attempted to re- 
concile us to them by showing that there were difficulties, which 
we could not understand, in all things. He said the Bndgewater 
Treatises, which were intended to show design in nature, and 
thus prove the existence of a designer, had merely multiplied in- 
stances of adaptations, without showing by a logical argument 
liow the adaption of things to their ends proves design, and thus 
the existence of a designer also. He paid a high compliment 
to Paley. but said that many things which he took for granted as the 
basis of his reasoning, were now denied by unbelievers, and these 
it was now necessary to prove in the lirst instance. There were 
two kinds of evidence of the truth of Natural Religion. The tirst 
was A PRIORI, or intuitive, found in the constitution of the mind 
itself, this he called primitive. The other was a posteriori, or 
deduced from our reason and experience — was obtained by reason- 
ing, and this he called sec'ondary. He said no attempt to prove 
truth A PROIRI had been made in our language, since the time of 
Locke, except by Dr. Samuel Clarke, and all he won by it was a 
niche in one of Pope's satirical poems, ending with the follow- 
ing lines: 

"We take the a priori road. 

And reason downward till we doubt ot God." 

Though discarded in Britian, truth had been sought on the conti- 
nent, and it was Philosophy, founded on this mode of investigation, 
that had given the death blow to French infidelity. He considered 
the intuitive, not only the most important and sure evidence of 
Natural Religion, but the foundation also of all other evidence; for 



GO 

no man could deduce truth from facts and experience, without 
relying more or less on intuitive truths, or what he knows to be 
true without having the proof thereof. We might ind<:-ed infer the 
existence of God from seeing his footprints in every part of creation 
around us; but when we looked within, we saw his image reflected 
in our own souls. 

He did not distinctly say he should do so, but we inferred from 
his remarks that it was his intention to give in these lectures a 
systematic analysis of Natural Religion, as drawn from the intui- 
tive perceptions of the human mind ; embracing the natural re- 
ligious sentiments of man ; the being, personality and character of 
God; and man's nature, duty and destiny. — This is a grand concep- 
tion, but it will be a terrible task, to fathom the soul and ascertain 
truth from the natural, involuntary, and uniform convictions of 
the human mind. We fear we have not done the lecturer justice; 
the room was so crowded, that we could not take a single note, and 
have written this from memory. We could noc avoid the reflection 
which was forced upon the mind from the peculiarity of the place 
— the Odeon, (the old Theatre,) where, a few years ago, similar 
crowds were wont to assemble for amusement, while 
"He who aped the Baboon best, 
Gave to their pleasure greatest zest" — 
but now filled with immortals, who are listening, with intense in- 
terest, to the most profound and abtruse investigations into their 
own nature, and into their relations to the rest of the Universe, as 
well as into all that can be learned or known of the Unsearchable, 
the Infinite and Eternal. P. Q. X. 

In March, 1843, I was admitted to the bar. I opened an 
office in Ipswich, and being well known in the vicinity soon 
had a fair practice. In the early part of my practice the 
trial of a case was much more tedious than it is now. By 
the abolition of special pleading — a most unwise concession 
to stupidity and carelessness — a party was compelled by the 
other to be prepared to prove every material fact that might 
effect the general issue, while this simplified the issue upon 
the record it made the trial very long, tedious and uncertain. 

The trial of a case under this system was very annoN'ing to 



61 

my sensetive and nervous temperament, and made my 
professional life one of anxious drudgery. While a remedy 
for this state was under consideration, I sent the following 
article to the Boston Daily Advertiser, which excited much 
surprise among men not familiar with proceedings in court, 
that such a system be tolerated under the name of justice : — 

Mr. Editor — The delay, expense, and injustice attending the 
judicial determination of cotroversies in Massachusetts have been 
the cause of constant and general complaint for several years. 
The Legislature has been asked again and again to take some 
action for the removal of these evils, and has as often refused to 
adopt any practicable mode of obviating tliem. 

We see the subject has been brought to the notice of the present 
legislature, and if the lay members therof will excuse our presump- 
tion in the attempt, and you can afford the room in your columns, 
we should like to give them a brief but particular account of the 
causes and occasions of these evils. And we may say in the outset 
that these evils do not arise from the number of cases merely, nor 
from the inability of the courts to dispose of them in a speedy and 
just manner, by reason of their intrinsic difficulity; but these evils 
arise from the inability of the courts to dispose of all the cases be- 
fore them promptly, and equitably and at the same time consistent- 
ly with the legal rights of the parties, under our present manner of 
proceeding. 

A brief statement of the progress of a case in court will best 
illustrate the cause, extent and nature of the evils. 

An action, for instance, is entered, and is continued, at the first 
term of course, there being five hundred to one thousand cases 
before it, upon the docket, which have been continued from the 
former term. 

At the next term, fifty to one hundred of these old cases are 
marked for trial. Many of the others are continued, and most of 
them are so continued because there is so small a chance for a trial 
and so much uncertainty as to the time when a trial can be had, if 
had at all during the term. Our case, however, is marked for trial. 

The trials commence, and the first case proves to be an action of 
replevin — replevin for a calf — for a calf worth five dollars, and the 
real and only question between the parties is, whether the plaintiff 



G2 

ought to have paid the defendant, a field-driver, fifty cents as 
fees for impounding said calf. 

This case is tried upon the general issue, and everything perti- 
nent which can be denied by either party is denied and required to 
be proved. 

In sucli a case there are many distinct points or facts, (we have 
not counted them but certainly there are as many as forty,) which 
often are and may now be lawfully made a matter of controversy 
and proof, and the decision upon either of which may decide the 
case, and each of these points in its relations and proofs involves a 
vast number of particulars. 

The trial of this important case, occupies, (as such cases often in 
fact do,) the time of the Court for fottb whole days, causing an 
expense of three to five hundred dollars to the Commonwealth, 
and still greater expense to the numerous other parties whose wit- 
nesses are in attendance in several of the next succeeding cases 
marked for trial; the parties in which can seldom know in advance 
whether a trial will last five minutes or as many days. This case 
is put as illustration only, but such cases and results are often wit- 
nessed in our Courts. Actions of other forms and for other causes 
are often contested with a similar spirit, and are thus improperl^^ 
unjustly and expensively protracted in the same legal, manner. 

The next case of the fifty to one hundred ia order for trial proves 
to be an action upon a note — usually one of the most brief in trial. 
The defence to it is opened to the jury upon many and inconsistent 
grounds. The denial of the signature, the want or failure of con- 
sideration, a set-off, payment, and perhaps usury are each relied 
upon in the defence, and the plaintiff summons in witnesses in 
reply to all this matter. The hearing on this second trial lasts per- 
haps a day or two; or perhaps the defence so fully opened breaks 
down, each point made by the defendant only interposed for delay 
or vexation, being unsustained by the evidence produced. 

A term of three or four weeks is thus occupied in trying fifteen to 
twenty cases out of the hundred— (not often however, trying so 
many of them.) Parties in other cases marked for trial, seeing no 
probability at the end of the second or third week of the arrival of 
their turn for trial, agree to continue their cases and discharge 
their witnesses after having had them in attendance for several 
days, and our plaintiff does the same. The same proceeding is had 



63 

at the next and several next succeeding terms, at each of which a 
new portion of the old cases is marked for trial, a few tried, some 
settled and inore continued again, 

OuK plaintiff thus linds his case as far, apparently, from trial at 
the end of two years, as at first. Out of all patience with the courts, 
hating the law and condemning the lawyers, he finally, after pay- 
ing his witnesses and other costs, at each term for two or three 
yetirs, offers to lose all that and perhaps to take fifty per cent, of 
his demand, if by so doing he can only get clear of the law — if the 
defendant, liis debtor, will thus let him get out of court and be free 
from the harassing anxiety and tedious watchings of a law suit. 
Or. perliaps he perseveres, and after a while a trial is had and he 
begins to think that justice is sure though tardy; but when he 
seems just in the possession of his right by the verdict of a jury, 
some legal objection — some point of law — is made against his case, 
not its merits, but to some incident in the course of the trial or 
other matter entirely foreign to tlie real justice of the case, which 
prolongs the delay, sends him to another court, adds to the ex- 
pense, and which fixed point of law will perhaps ultimately and 
forever defeat his just claim. 

By proceeding in this manner not more than one case in fifty is 
disposed of by a bona fide trial. If the other cases deserve or are 
designed for trial, there ought to be an opportunity for trial with- 
out so much delay and expense; and if they do not require an 
investigation by a jury they ought not to incumber the docket 
more than one term. Of course there is tiien manifest injustice iu 
the manner in which they are disposed of or in the cruel delay and 
needless expense to which the party is subjected before lie can 
have a trial. 

Parties having just and legal claims are as effectually precluded 
from a remedj' by this course of procedure as they would be were 
there no courts at all. A litigious defendant having no defence at 
all sits down to watch the plaintiff's proof, to find a gap if possible 
through which perhaps he may escape from a just claim; and 
requires tl)e plaintiff to prove iiis whole case with particularity 
though in so doing l;e must occupy much time and cause great 
expense to himself and the Commonwealth in proving facts which 
the defendant does not doubt or knows to be true, but still de- 
mands the proof of. The court cannot interfere with such a course 



64 

of defence, because it is but the exercise of the defendant's legal 
right, a right which tlie court must respect though it be a riglit to 
do wrong and defeat justice, and to do this too at the expense of 
hundreds of dollars to the Commonwealth, and when the party 
knows that his whole course in the matter is dislionest and would 
be unjustifiable but for the fact that the law allows him to take it. 

A defendant, knowing his power thus to postpone the final settle- 
ment of the case, and harass the plaintiff, adopts the course of 
insisting upon all his legal rights for the very purpose of defeating 
justice and compelling the injured party to relinquish his right or 
compromise his claim, as a matter of economy and comfort, upon 
unconscionable terms. And our present mode of proceeding favors 
a litigious plaintiff equally well. He has an opportunity to insti- 
tute proceedings on his own choice or caprice or ill will against 
another, and the defendant, who has been in no fault, has to sub- 
mit to all the vexatious, delay and expense to which such a plain- 
tiff can now successfully subject a defendant under the i^resent 
mode of admijiistering justice. 

The Court cannot see the futility of the plaintiff's claim or 
defendant's defence until the case is put on trial, and before that 
time the injured party is so vexed at the delay and expense, that 
he is willing to bear all that he has borne, rather than go on so far 
and long as he must go, to obtain a legal determination of the mat- 
ter in his favor, perhaps. 

Injured parties fear the law — are afraid to resort to the tribunals 
for a vindication of rights or redress of wrongs, however clearlj'^ 
their claims can be established. Many such, as every practitioner 
well knows, prefer to suffer repeated injuries and losses, and to 
bear many wrongs, rather than get involved in a suit, even witli a 
CLEAB case, with its long delay, harassing attendance ujjon Court, 
a heavy expense beyond the amouut recoverable of the wrong doer, 
and with no certainty after all that a most meritorious and equit- 
able claim may not be lost by some rule of law — a barren technical- 
ity — or one fruitful only of mischief — which ma^" be very correct in 
principle, and well enough as an abstraction, but the universal ap- 
plication of which generally causes injustice. Parties having no 
merits often insist upon a trial in the hope that they shall obtain 
some misdirection of the judge on a point of law applicable only to 
the course of the trial, or on an incidental matter, and not affecting 



65 

the real merits of the case, which will give them the advantage, 
the LEGAL advantage, over parties having all the merits. 

This is a correct but incomplete view of tlie delay, expensivenesa 
and injustice of our judicial proceedings. 

Now, how can an increase in the number of the judges or in their 
salaries eradicate these evils? How would an increase in the num- 
ber or length of the terms obviate the diffilculties in these proceed- 
ings which the judges have now no power to remove or exclude? 
The evils are inseparable from the system ; and the wisest and most 
prudent means of ascertaining the best remedy would certainly be 
that recommended by the Suffolk Bar last winter — the appointment 
ment of a Commissioner to consider and report upon the whole 
subject of legal remedies — the organization and jurisdiction of the 
tribunals, and especially upon the manner of proceeding. Material 
amendments are requisite in both their jurisdiction and procedure, 
and nothing less than such amendments will cure the present 
evils. ESSEX. 

In 1848 the old Whig party received the nomination of 
Gen. Taylor, for president with much dissatisfaction. This 
was increased by the speech of Daniel Webster in 1850, in 
favor of the repeal of the Missouri compromise. The Free 
Soil element in the Whig party bolted the nomination of Gen. 
Taylor, and put a Free Soil ticket in nomination for state of- 
ficers, and the speech of Mr. Webster excluded all hope of a 
revmion. 

1 wrote a criticism of that speech which was published in 
the Salem Gazette, as follows : — 

Mr. Editop — Mr. Webster has been so much encouraged ^by the 
apparent approv.il of some of his former acts of apostacy by some 
of our prominent citizens, that he has taken another step in the 
same adverse course, and has again betrayed Massachusetts and 
disregarded the principles which she has recently and explicitly 
declared to b3 such as she expected her representatives to sustain 
and insist upon. 

We allude to his vote for Mr. Soule's amendment of .the omnibus 
bill, which amendment is as follows: — "And when the said terri- 
tory" (of Utah and New Mexico) "or any portion of the same shall 



66 

be admitted as a state, it shall be received into the Union with or 
without slavery, as their Constitution may proscribe at the time of 
their admission." 

Now, Mr. Editor, it is easy to see what this amendment amounts 
to. It gives the people of these territories the legal power to insti- 
tute slavery by their constitutions, and to establish it where it now 
has no legal existence. It also gives them a right to admission as 
siates, with slaves, although the future Congress by whicli the act 
of admission may be passed should desire to exclude new slave 
states. 

Mr. Clay and many others at the South, and nearly all at the 
North, hold that slavery has now no legal existence in tliese terri- 
tories, and that it can be introduced there only by positive enact- 
ment. Such is Mr. Webster's opinion. In his recent Kennebec 
letter, he says: — "Slavery does not exist there." that "it is altogeth- 
er abolished." 

But this amendment, by necessary implication, clearlv gives 
these territories the legal power to make constitutions which siiall 
CREATE HUMAN SLAVERY! — to legally establish it where these 
Senat«)rs say it has now no legal existence! 

And Daniel Webster votes for this! votes, too, to give these terri- 
tories the same right to demand admission as slave states which he 
says Texas has, on the division of her territory, to come in with 
four more such states! He is not now vjontent with voting 
against the Wilmot Proviso — with doing nothing to exclude 
slavery ; he votes to give authority to these territories— to territories 
now free — to originate and establish this great wrong, and the 
right to come into the Union witli it h'-reafter without objection! 

Surel^^sir, Massachusetts has fallen — miserably fallen — from her 
position and principles, if she permits her Senator to sustain such 
a measure as this and does not make him feel the reproach of her 
rebuke, and the weiglit of the censure of her indignant ciiid de- 
frauded sons. 

But it cannot be that the men of Massachusetts will see the 
raensure sustained in their name, by one to whom they have dele- 
gated their power for a while, without seeking and demanding an 
opportunity of repudiating both the measure and its supporter. 

Perhaps no expression of the opinion of Massachusetts would in- 
duce Mr. Webster to leave the place he holds, or to surrender the 



67 

power he misuses. He may be under stipulated obligations to 
others, which obligations he is to fulfill to the letter, although it be 
done in utter disregard of what is due to our feelings, opinions and 
principles, and although it lead to defeat of the measure which the 
people of this Commonwealth deem necessary and just for them- 
selves and their country. 

The motives and interests which have prompted or induced Mr. 
Webster to enter upon the course he has taken will be neither 
weakened or lessened, nor suffered to lag for want of stimulation, 
while the urgency of the crisis requires him, in the pursuits of the 
objects he has in view, to betray still more ignobly those principles 
of personal freedom which are interwoven with our feelings, our 
morality and our religion, as well as with our interests and politics. 

We therefore may not hope, even, by any manifestation of dis- 
sent, to change liim from tlie course he has entered upon. But we 
owe it to ourselves — to our character, our principles and our history, 
to express dissent of the State — of the people generally — to tlie in- 
iquitous course he is pursuing under the power and honor he has 
received at our hands for higher and holier purposes than he now 
seeks thereby. 

His action upon this subject is of sufficient importance to call out 
a loud tone of indignant rebuke from the people of this State, by 
remonstrance or otherwise. The occasion demands it. — And under 
a proper and discreet mo.ie of obtaining the expression of the feel- 
ing and judgement of Massachusetts men in regard to his conduct, 
we are surn there would be such a manifestation of their disappro- 
bation — of its force, unanimity and character — as would crush 
politically, morally, and forever, any public man who lives in pow- 
er by their favor and thus abandons their principles, ana to render 
it certain that her sons have principles in regard to the extension 
of slavery which they cherish and will sustain against all oppon- 
ents, and which none of our public ser\ants can deride in Viiin or 
disregard with impunity. 

Our observation has not been very limited, nor is our recollection 
very brief ; and yet we have never known the heart and nerve of 
our people so universally and deeply moved, on any occasion or 
question, as they are at this time in regard to the conduct ol Mr. 
Webster. We hope that feeling will find an appropriate utter- 
ance. A. 



68 

With three parties engaged in the election in 1851, there 
was a failure to choose a Governor by the people, a majority 
being then required, and the election devolved on the legis- 
lature ; but a few years later neither of these parties had a 
majority in the legislature. In this condition of parties, a 
coalition was formed of the Democrats and Free Soilers un- 
der the terms of which Bout well was chosen governor by the 
aid of the Free Soil voters and Sumner was chosen to the U. 
S. Senate by the aid of Democratic votes on the twenty-sixth 
ballot ; and the old Whig party lost its name and existence. 

Many of the older, conservative members of the party 
thereafter acting with the Democrats, and the younger and 
more radical falling into the ranks of the Free Soil party, 
and thus the party now called Republican. 

1 never approved of this coalition — thisbarter of principles 
for success, and would take no part in the caucuses or 
meetings in which the trading was made. 

In 1851 my mother died. I had been the only member of 
her family from the time I returned to Ipswich in 1830 ; all 
her other children being married and having homes of their 
own, and on her death the old home was closed and I went 
to the hotel to board. 

I soon found that I could get no sleep there, with my 
asthinetic affliction, where feather beds and pillows were 
used, nor even on hair raatresses and pillows, if the bed 
clothing had been used on such beds, I therefore furnished a 
chamber over my office for a lodging room, taking my meals 
at the hotel for six years. 

In 1857 a married friend who had been very intimate with 
me from my boyhood, offered to let me have such rooms as 
I needed in his house, about midway between my land and 
my office, and to have me take my meals with his family if I 
desired. I accepted this offer — furnished the rooms to suit 



69 

rnj'^ own taste and and necessities, taking my meals with his 
family. I had a very comfortable and happy home for seven 
years. In 1864 the ill health of his wife was such that my 
removal was desirable. 

I was chosen a delegate to the Constitutional Convention 
in 1853 b}'' the united action of all the three parties. 

When the convention met, it was found to be composed 
largely of men from the small towns who had been elected 
by the coalition party, man}' of whom were poorly qualified 
for the position and led by a few political leaders, who de- 
termined before-hand in a party caucus what policy or 
measures should be supported by the party and what should 
be rejected. 

1 did not attend any of their caucuses, nor did I take any 
part in the debates, except upon one subject — the system of 
representation. 

My speech on that subject attracted much attention and 
commendation at the time and is thought worthy of a 
place here, and it follows below as printed in the Debates 
and Proceedings ol the House : — 

MR. H.ASKELL, of Ipswich. Notwithstanding the di- 
versity of opinion, upon the subject now under considera- 
tion. I suppose we shall all agree to one proposition — that 
unless some plan may be devised, which shall be more just, 
equal, and more acceptable to the people than the present 
system, it will be better for us to retain the old system as it 
is. Most of the gentlemen who have addressed the Conven- 
tion, seem to have taken it for granted that the present sys- 
tem is obnoxious, in a great degree, to the people, and that 
there is no danger of our framing a worse system. I do not 
concur in that view, or in the opinion which has been so 
frequently expressed, that there is great injustice and in- 
equality in that s\^stem. I propose now to make a very 



70 

brief examination of the plan proposed by the gentleman 
from Lowell, (Mr. Butler,) compare it with the existing sys- 
tem, and see if it obviates any of the objections which have 
been urged by the gentleman for Erving, (Mr. Griswold,) 
against the present system. The first objection to the pres- 
ent system, which was suggested by the gentleman for Erv- 
ing, if I recollect aright, was, that it was too complicated. 
Is it as complicated as the proposition now submitted by 
the gentleman from Lowell, (Mr. Butler) ? I contend that it 
is not. 

By the present basis, one sum is given as the number to 
entitle a town to one representative; another sum is fixed as 
the mean increasing ratio for additional representatives, 
and another sum is given, by which the population of towns 
not entitled to one representative, is to be divided, and the 
quotient thus obtained determines the number of represen- 
tatives they are to be entitled to in each ten years. We have, 
then, three fixed or certain numbers given for thehc purposes, 
and the provision is, that for every 70,000 increase in the 
population of the State, (10 per cent, on the census of 1840,) 
10 per cent, is to be added to each of these given numbers. I 
submit, there is not any great complication in this matter, 
and that any man can sit down with the census and Consti- 
tution of Massachusetts before him, and operating with the 
simple rules of arithmetic, can apportion the representation 
in a very short time. Can it be done as easily by the plan 
of the gentleman from Lowell? I must confess that I have 
given this subject a careful and candid attention, and I am 
hardly able to see the results, which the gentleman from 
Lowell is inclined to think will be realized, from the adop- 
tion of his system. The provision of the first resolution in 
his plan is, that every town of a less number than one thou- 
sand inhabitants, shall be entitled to five representatives in 



71 

ten years, etc.; then there are four degrees of the sliding scale 
in the ratio of increase, by which the representation increases, 
not by any regular percentage, according to the increase of 
population in the State, but by an arbitrary rule, in which 
the town is in some measure deprived of its power in propor- 
tion to the increase of its population. 

The second resolution in the plan of the gentleman from 
Lowell, (Mr. Butler,) is a verj' complicated one indeed, and I 
would defy any gentleman of this Convention, except the 
gentleman from Lowell, to sit down and tell me what the 
result will be ten years hence, of the sliding-scale part of the 
basis laid down there. It provides, that "in all apportion- 
ments after the first, the numbers which shall entitle any 
city or town to two, three, four or more representatives, 
shall be so adjusted in proportion hereinafter provided, that 
the whole number of representatives, exclusive of those 
which ma\' be returned by towns of less than one thousand 
inhabitants, and towns incorporated after this provision 
shall be adopted, shall never exceed three hundred and 
sevent^^" 

Now, Sir, there are various ways in which this apportion- 
ment may be ' adjusted." I have found that it might be 
"adjusted," (not proportionately increased,) as in the man- 
ner before specified," so as to present very different results. 
There are two or three other elements which must always 
enter into the apportionment of the House, upon the plan 
proposed Ijy the gentleman from Lowell. The date of the 
in( orporation of a town must be ascertained ; the towns sub- 
ject to loss, on their representation, must be computed, so 
as to have the ratio increased to such an extent as to keep 
the number below the maximum. It is more complicated — 
infinitely more so, than any system we have yet had, as ex- 
perience will show, if it is adopted, and decidedly 



T2 
more complicated than the present system. 

Again, it is suggested by the gentleman for Erving, that 
there is a great loss by fractions under the present system. 
He made out the loss to be 140,000. Now, I take it for 
granted, that we do lose by the present system, and I am 
willing to take the estimate at 140.000. I have made an 
estimate of the loss by fractions under the S3^stem proposed 
by the gentleman from Lowell, and I find that the loss by 
fractions is nearly double what it is under the present sys- 
tem. I have all the details, and the^^ are more surprising 
than the aggregate. I find that, according to the proposi- 
tion of the gentleman from from Lowell, the loss, in the ag- 
gregate, will be 277,060, nearly double the loss by fractions 
under the present system. 

But I ask the attention of the Convention for a moment or 
two to the details of this comparison. Where does the loss 
chiefly fall under the system now proposed ? In general 
terms, I may say that two hundred and eleven towns, en- 
titled to one representative each will lose in the aggregate 
205,089, making a fraction of nearl}' one thousand on an 
average, for each town ; while the city of Lowell, which 
sends eight representatives, loses onh^ a fraction of six 
hundred and twenty. If this is equal representation I must 
confess I have not been able to understand it. Lowell seems 
to he entitled to the lion's share in the system proposed b)'- 
the gentleman from Lowell, as the county of Franklin was 
in that proposed by the delegate for Erving. Lowell loses 
by a fraction, only 620, while the two hundred and eleven 
towns which send only one representative each, lose nearly 
one thousand each, or almost double what is lost by Lowell, 
which sends eight. 



73 

To carry the matter further :— 

Boston, having 28 Rep, has a fraction of 1,788 

Lowell, *• 8 " " 620 

Salem and Roxbury 5 " each have 3,264- 

Five cities, having 4 " " 15,877 

Seven towns, " 3 " " 11,635 

Thirty towns, " 2 ** " 38,787 

Two hundred and eleven towns one each, 205,089 



277,060 
The Convention will see that the middle sized towns, send- 
ing but two representatives, and those smaller, sending 
only one, lose almost the whole. They lose, in the aggre- 
gate, more than 240,000, more than 100,000 above the 
amount lost by the present system, in all the Common- 
wealth, according to the statement made by the delegate 
from Erving. And yet this plan is put forth on the ground 
that there is a great loss by fractions under the present sys- 
tem. Gentlemen will see that there is nothing gained by the 
system proposed by the gentleman from l^owell, in respect 
to losses by fractions, Nearl}^ all the loss will fall upon the 
small towns, and it will greatly exceed the present loss. I 
submit that it is no improvement over the present basis in 
this particular. 

Then there is another objection to the present plan, sug- 
gested by the gentleman from Erving. I refer to his objec- 
tions because he stated them with more particularity than 
other gentlemen have stated their's. The objection is, that 
all the towns are not represented. This, I think, is a very 
serious objection to any system. I agree in what has been 
said as to the right of every portion of the community to be 
represented every year. I believe it is their right, and I think 
it is the duty of this Convention to make such a provision, 



T4 

that every portion of the Commonwealth shall be represent- 
ed on the floor of the House of Representatives every year. 
I do not know by what right the majority of this 
Convention may prescribe that any portion of the people 
shall not be represented half the time. I do not see the phi- 
losophy of the principle, or the justice of the doctrine upon 
which such a system is supported But does the proposition, 
submitted by the gentleman from Lowell, obviate the objec- 
tion to the present system entirely, in this respect ? I do not 
know the precise number of the towns which are 
entitled to representation by their fractions ; I know, how- 
ever, that under the present system it is larger than it would 
be under the system proposed by the gentleman from Lowell. 
But, if the principle is bad in one case it is just as bad in the 
other. The plan submitted by him does, perhaps, obviate 
the evil in a measure, but it permits the pernicious principle 
still remain as a portion of the Constitution of the Common- 
wealth. As a member of the legislature in 1839, when the 
present system was discussed and adopted, I voted for it ; 
but it was under a sort of necessity and as a matter of com- 
promise. I am not now prepared to vote for any system, 
either that proposed by the gentleman for Erving, or that 
proposed by the gentleman from Lowell, which shall deprive 
any portion of the Commonwealth of representation every 
year. I think the basis of representation ought to be so ar- 
ranged, that the right of every person to representation, 
every year, shall be secured. 

The proposition of the gentleman from Lowell, does, in a 
measure, correct that evil in the present system ; but still 
leaves some 45.000 inhabitants unrepresented half the time. 
The same objection exists, then, to the proposition of the 
gentleman from Lowell as to the present system, and I do 
not see that the amendment is any better in principle, 



in this respect, than the present system. 

Another objection is, that the votes of the people do not 
have an equal force. The same remarks, just now made, 
with regard to the obje( tion that all are not represented, 
apply here. The amendment now proposed, contemplates 
that there shall be a provision in the Constitution by which 
one man may vote for two or three representatives, and 
another, in the small towns, may vote for only one, and 
that a citizen of a fractional town shall only vote for a rep- 
reseniative once in two years, or half a representative each 
year, if the power is distributed over a term of ten years. 
It seems to me there is an inequality here; and though the 
proposition submitted by the gentleman from Lowell, 
lessens this evil in some degree, it is still permitted to re- 
main. He proposes that in the cities districts shall be form- 
ed, and the voters have their right to vote for two or three 
representatives. Under this system, as now. there will be a 
very unequal power exercised by the voters. One person will 
have a right to vote for three representatives, another for 
two, and another only for one, and another for one every 
other year. 1 think the present system is obnoxious to this 
objection, and that a citizen of Boston ought not to have 
a right to vote for forty-four representatives, while I have 
the right to vote for but one. I know of no rule of logic 
or mathematics by which these capacities can be reduced to 
an equal power. But the objection applies to one system as 
well as the other, and if the principle is wrong in the present 
Constitution, it is equally wrong in the system proposed by 
the gentleman from Lowell ; and, although his plan reduces 
the evil, it is still objectionable in principle. 

Then, again, it is objected that by the present 
basis all the power will be absorbed by the large towns and 
cities. Why so ? Not because the principle is wrong? The 



76 

gentleman from Northampton, (Mr. Huntington,) and 
others who have stated this objection, have complained of 
the result, but have not objected to the principle or claimed 
that it is not equal, for if it is unequal it is clearly so to the 
disadvantage of the large towns only ; and, Sir, when it was 
adopted in the legislature of 1839, the gentleman from Bos- 
ton, whom I do not see in the hall, (Mr. Gray,) objected 
that it was prejudicial to the rights of the city. 

But it is said that the results are different from what was 
contemplated, and that its operation was not understood 
by its framers. I believe the legislature that passed it dis- 
cussed it for a long time, and I think that they understood 
it as well as gentlemen here who have condemned it so 
severely. It was before that legislature for several months 
and thoroughly considered ; and it was finally carried, as 
the gentleman from Northampton (Mr. Huntington) has 
said, as a compromise between the opinions and wishes of 
the city and country members. 

But it is said that, by the present system, the large towns 
will absorb ali the electoral power. Why so ? How ? Only 
by the increase ot population. Well, ought not the power to 
go where the people go ? I have been used to hearing the 
doctrine taught, and especially by the teachers of democracy 
throughout the Commonwealth, that the power resided in 
the people, that it is inherent in the people, and derived from 
the people. I do not know what consistency there is in 
conduct which undertakes to exclude the people from the 
exercise of that power, or how action of any political party, 
which professes to act in accordance with this principle, can 
prevent the power from going where the people go. If it is 
inherent in the people, it must go where the people go, and 
dwell where they dwell, whether it be in town or city. By 
the very great increase of population in the cities and large 



77 

towns, it seems to be feared that they will absorb all the 
political power in the Conimouwealth, and acquire a majori- 
ty ot the representation in the House of Representatives. 
There is a limit to this. Boston cannot double her resident, 
domiciled population. Her limits forbid it. Already she be- 
gins to overflow. A large portion of her population is al- 
ready seeking its abode in the surrounding towns, not only 
in the suburbs but in more remote localities. 

Almost all the future increase of the population in the 
Commonwealth must be in the middling sized and small 
towns. By the basis adopted in 1839 there is an inequality, 
and it is against the cities. By the basis then adopted, a 
town of 1,200 inhabitants was entitled to one representa- 
tive ; one of 3,000 inhabitants was entitled to two, and so 
on. Thus, by a sliding scale and different ratio for the small 
and large towns, the disparity of representation increases, 
to the disadvantage of the large towns as the population 
increases. 

It starts with a disparity of 1,200 to 3,600, (one to three,) 
and these numbers are to be increased together by a uni- 
form percentage. It must follow, that as these numbers of 
1,200 and 3,600 are augmented the disparity increase. 

Suppose that in 1860, or 1870, or 1880, the population of 
the State should double the amount that it was when the 
ratio was fixed in 1840. Then twenty-four hundred will be 
the number which will entitle any town to one representa- 
tive every year, and seventy -two hundred to send a second 
representative. The small town must gain 1,200 to retain 
its one representative, and the large town must gain 3,600 
to retain its two representatives, and so on. That is the 
only inequality after all. A large town will have to gain 
two inhabitants to get an additional representative, or 
hold its number ; whereas a town which has only one repre- 



78 

sentative, or a fractional representation, has to gain one in- 
habitant only to retain, its representation. The large towns 
and cities have to increase twice as fast as a small town to 
maintain their relative position. How is this objection, as 
to the absorption of power, obviate by the proposition of 
the gentleman from Lowell ? He limits it so that there is no 
danger of the large towns gaining too much power. That 
is effectually guarded against. But the predominance of the 
small towns is just as effectually secured. The proposition 
as to the large towns is, that "in all the apportionments 
after the first, the numbers which shall entitle any city or 
town to two, three, four, or more representatives, shall be 
adjudged, in proportion, as hereinbefore provided, that the 
whole number of representatives, exclusive of those which 
may be returned by towns of less than one thousand inhabi- 
tants, and towns incorporated after this provision is adopt- 
ed, shall never exceed three hundred and seventy." 

Now, Sir, what will be the effect of this provision ? Will 
it prevent the accumulation and absorption of power in 
some portions of the Commonwealth, at the expense of 
other portions ? I find, upon the basis submitted by the 
gentleman from Lowell, that forty-six cities and towns, 
entitled to more than one representative, will send one hun- 
dred and forty-seven representatives, according to the first 
apportionment ; and there are sixtj'-four towns which will, 
at first, be entitled to but thirtj^-two representatives, but 
which will, undoubtedly, become large enough in popula- 
tion, before long, to entitle them to one representative each ; 
which result will take them from the exception as to the 
maximum, and it will require thirty-two representatives 
more to supply their constitutional quota ; and then there 
are seven towns, incorporated since 1850, for which no pro- 
vision is made, as I understand, in the proposition submitted 



79 

by the gentleman from Lowell, and which are not in the ex- 
ception as to the maximum of three hundred and seventy. 
That will make thirty -nine rights of representation hereafter 
to be provided with representatives, and the representatives 
to supply which, must be taken from the three hundred and 
seventy now granted to the large towns and cities. But the 
provision is, that they must be taken from towns entitled to 
two or more, and these thirty-nine must therefore be taken 
from the forty-six towns and cities having one hun- 
dred and forty -seven representatives ; and that will cut 
down the number, one hundred and forty-seven, to one 
hundred and eight, leaving to such towns and cities, having 
more than one-half the population, but little more than one- 
fourth the representation. The large towns and cities will 
then, in the course of time, and that not far distant, be de- 
prived of a large amount of their representation, and it will 
be awarded to the smaller towns w^hich have succeeded in 
mustering one thousand inhabitants. The objection of the 
gentleman from Erving, that by the operation of the present 
system, the power is to go to the large towns and cities, 
where the present population has been tending for many 
years past, is, after all, more than counterbalanced by. a 
smaller objection to the proposition of the gentleman from 
Lowell. The political power, b^^ that system, is going to 
the small towns, and the injustice will be done to the large 
towns and cities, which may have increased in a greater 
proportion than the small ones. I submit, that there is 
no improvement here ; that the political power is going from 
the many to the few, from the large towns to the rural 
districts, and the very small towns, which contain only one 
thousand inhabitants. It is more unequal, in my opinion, 
than the present basis can ever be. 

But, Sir, the objection that the amendment submitted by 



80 

the gentleman from Lowell, will be inefectual to obviate the 
difficulties which exist in the present system, is but a small 
part of the objection which I have to this amendment ; this 
is a trifling objection, compared with the objection ^^hich, 
to my mind, will be, of all others, the one that will have 
most influence against the proposition in the minds of the 
people ; and that is, it does not reduce the size of the House. 
Now, Sir, I think I know something of the desire and expec- 
tation of the people in that part of the country in which I 
reside, both of the large towns and of the small towns, as 
well as the rural districts as in the cities ; and although I do 
not wish to make any prediction with regard to the matter, 
as the gentleman who sits near me, (Mr, Keyes,) often does 
— and if I could succeed in making predictions as well as he 
does, I certainly would make the attempt — yet I may be 
permitted to express the opinion, that whatever basis of 
representation may be adopted by this Convention, and sub- 
mitted to the people, if it does not reduce the number of the 
House materially, it will be rejected by them. 1 think that 
there is danger that we shall lose other desired reforms in 
our Constitution, if we adopt some of the propositions 
which have been submitted here, by a failure to meet the ex- 
pectations of the people upon this point. I must confess, 
Mr. President, that I have been surprised by the remarks 
which have fallen from some gentlemen here, as to the ad- 
vantage of having a large number of members in the House 
of Representatives. I think that those gentlemen who ex- 
press that opinion, cannot have been here when we had such 
large houses, as I have sometimes seen ; for, on some occa- 
sions there has been a great deal of inconvenience experienc- 
ed from this cause, upon the floor. I have been here when 
there were five hundred and thirty-nine members in the 
House, and I would not want to come here again, if I come 



81 

at all, to sit in a House of that size. There has been a 
change in the accommodations since that time, and the 
seats have been enlarged and widened, so that gentlemen do 
not now sit so close and crowded, by a great deal, as they 
did then. As to the dispatch of public business, I cannot 
agree with those who think that it was more expeditiously 
or properly performed in a House consisting of five or six 
hundred members, than it would be in a House of only half 
that number. I think, Mr. President, that it is a very serious 
objection to the proposition now before the Convention, 
that it increases the number by reducing the basis. By the 
present existing provisions of the Constitution, the number 
is necessarily limited ; I do not mean that there is any ex- 
press provision of the subject, but as the ratio is fixed, it is 
impossible that the number should exceed certain limits. The 
ratio will increase just in proportion to the increase of popu- 
lation, which must necessarily keep it down to just about 
the existing number. Or, if anything, it tends to keep down 
the size of the House, because, as the ratio entitling a town 
to representation increases, the fractions may be larger, so 
that under the existing system the tendency is to reduce the 
House. But the proportion now submitted will increase the 
number of members something like one hundred — ninety-four 
— I believe; and not only that, but it permits its indefinite 
extension hereafter, at least so far as the thirty-nine mem- 
bers from the new and fractional towns may be entitled to 
seats. I must confess that I do not fully understand the prac- 
tical operation of the sliding scale in the proposition of the 
gentleman from Lowell ; but one thing is clear, it does not 
deminish the House of Representatives, or confine it to any- 
thing like the present number, but it positively increases it 
to something like ninety-four over the present basis. I think 
it is a ver^' serious objection, when we are undertaking to 



82 

rm1<e a new basis, that it should increase the number of 
members instead of reducing them. 

There is another objection to his proposition, and that is, 
that it will put the government into the hands of a minority 
of the people of the Commonwealth. 1 suppose it is too late 
in the day — that it is quite unnecessary — for me to say, that 
the minority who reside in the rural districts ought not to 
have the whole power of the Commonwealth ; no one claims 
that they should have it. expressly ; but this system will give 
it to them. This plan which is proposed by the gentleman 
from Lowell assuredly puts the power into the hands of the 
minority of the people. I have looked at it carefully, and I 
will give the Convention the result of my investigation. I 
find, as I have already said, that there will be forty-six cities 
and towns which are entitled to more than one representa- 
tive each, and which, in the aggregate, contain a popula- 
tion of 511,870, and which will be entitled to one hundred 
and forty-seven representatives. Then, Sir, if we add forty- 
seven to that number, for tort\'-sevcn towns which contain 
a population of 143, 4-20, and which are entitled to one rep- 
resentative each, we shall have one hundred and ninety-four 
representatives lor a population of 655,290. Here is more 
than two-thirds of the population of the State, and they 
would have just one less than half the representation of the 
State; while sixty-four small towns having a fractional rep- 
resentation, and one hundred and sixtj'-four towns choosing 
one representative each, with a population of only 318,425, 
would choose one hundred and ninety-six representatives, 
being a majority of the House of Representatives ; and thus, 
as I have stated, the majority of the House would be chosen 
by less than one-third of the people of the Commonwealth. 
But I need not extend my remarks on this point ; I will simp- 
ly re-state these facts, in order that they may be impressed 



83 

upon the minds of the gentlemen of this body. I want every 
member of this Convention to remem.ber that if we adopt 
this proposition, 318,425 of the inhabitants of the Common- 
wealth, will choose a majority of the House of Representa- 
tives, while 655,290, or more than double that number, will 
choose less than half of the members of the House. This is 
not the whole inequality of the system, that it effectually 
puts the whole control of the House of Representatives in 
the hands of a minority of the people of the Commonwealth. 
I find a still greater inequality when I come to ascertain the 
ratio b^' which these different parts of the Commonwealth 
will be represented. Forty-six cities and towns, which 
choose one hundred and forty-six representatives, will have 
one representative for 3,482 inhabitants, while two hundred 
and twenty-eight towns, which will choose one hundred and 
ninety-six representatives, will have one representative for 
every 1,114 inhabitants. The towns which thus hold the 
control of the House of Representatives, and which choose a 
majority of its members, will thus have a representative to 
every 1,114 inhabitants, while the forty-six cities and towns, 
embracing more than half the population of the State, will 
only have one representative to 3,482 inhabitants — less 
than one-third their equal proportion with the small towns ! 
Now, I do not wish to argue to an intelligent body like tins, 
that such a proposition is unjust, or that it is unequal. 
There is no reason, I apprehend, that gentlemen can assign 
for such a proposition, unless it is designed to base the 
power of government upon something else besides the peo- 
ple. Unless such a principle is assumed, there is no reason 
whatever in giving the control ol the House of Representa- 
tives to a minority of the people, and of giving the represen- 
tatives of the country three times as much political power as 
you give those who represent the cities ^nd the large towns. 



84 

There is another objection to the proposition — that it vio- 
lates the true democratic principle — the principle upon 
which the government and the institutions of our country 
are recognized as being founded. And in order, Mr. Presi- 
dent, that there may be no misapprehension as to what I 
understand to be the democratic principle, which is the 
foundation of all republican institutions, I am happy to 
have the authority of several gentlemen upon this floor, who 
have laid down what I conceive to be the correct doctrine 
upon this subject. I am not, therefore, compelled to go back 
to the "fathers of our country," nor even to those "fossils," 
who have been alluded to as yet living among us ; but I am 
very happy in being able to find authority for the position 
which I take, among the progressive democracy in this 
body. It has been said. Sir, upon this floor, "that the prin- 
ciple of republicanism is that the majority shidl govern. The 
moment you depart from that principle and place the gov- 
ernment in the hands of one man less than a majority, you 
have no republican government." 

I consider this good doctrine, and I quote it, not for the 
purpose of making objections to it, but I adopt it as em- 
bodying my own views and opinions upon this matter. 

We have heard it said here in different quarters, that 
the majority should govern, and the idea has been often re- 
peated in different forms, that the moment we depart from 
this principle, and place the government in the hands of one 
man less than a majorit3', we have no republican govern- 
ment. I believe that. Sir ; and now I would inquire, if this 
system of representation which is proposed b3' the gentle- 
man from Lowell, illustrated as I have endeavored to illus- 
trate it by reference to figures and to facts, does not conflict 
with this principle ? I cannot reconcile it with this principle 
at all. It appears to* me that any fair exhibit of the 



proposition of the gentleman from Lowell will show that the 
adoption of that s^'stem would place the government in the 
hands of more than a hundred thousand less than a majori- 
ty of the people of this Commonwealth ; and by so doing it 
would be "departing from the very fundamental principle 
upon which a republican government is based." There is the 
declaration, and I hold it to be incontrovertible, that "if we 
adopt a rule which puts the power into the hands of one 
man less than a majority, we have no republican govern- 
ment," because the fundamental principle upon which it 
rests is departed from and abandoned. Now, Sir, I ask, 
whether this Convention, which claims to be a reform Con- 
vention, is disposed to take a step backwards and give this 
power to a minority of the people, although they may be 
landholders? We have more agriculturists in the town I 
represent than any other class ; we have no manufacturing 
corporations there — not one, Sir ; and that place has grown 
all that it has grown, (which is very little, I admit) within 
the last ten years, it has managed to keep along at any rate, 
through the farming interest, and to send abroad its pro- 
ducts—not of manufactures but minds — to fertilize and enrich 
other fields of human thought and action. I come from one 
of the rural districts, where, if the power is to be placed in 
the hands of the few, I agree it ought to be put ; but is it 
right to give it to the few even there ? There is no desire, in 
m3' judgment, in the rural districts, to have a system per- 
petuated which is at war with the fundamental principles of 
republican government ; and which, I believe, would be the 
tendenc3' and effect of the introduction ot any system similar 
to that which is proposed by the gentleman from Lowell. 
Another branch of the same doctrine of republicanism is as 
eloquently and ably laid down in the argument of the gent- 
leman for Wilberham, (Mr. Hallett,) before quoted. He said, 



86 

"that the people may prescribe that less than a majority 
shall rule, is not a republican doctrine." I agree to this. 
And it is a direct answer and refutation of the position tak- 
en by the gentleman for Berlin, (Mr. Boutwell,) the other 
day. Now, Sir, suppose that this Convention should adopt 
a rule that the minority of the peopleof the Commonwealth, 
living in the rural districts, and in the small towns, should 
have a predominant influence and vote in the legislature of 
the Commonwealth, and suppose that a majority of the 
people should assent to it; if the principle here laid down is 
correct, it could not be a republican government, because it 
is not a republican doctrine that the representatives of a 
minority may exercise the power to make changes in the 
laws even if the majority should consent to give the minori- 
ty power to elect them. The executive and administrative 
functions of government are, of course, performed by a small 
part of the people ; but it is the exercise of power delegated 
by a majority of the whole, and not a minority. But when 
you come to organize a body whose powers and acts affect 
the rights of all within the State by the exercise of sov- 
ereigiitv in the institution of laws for the government of all, 
I apprehend that that can never be justly done by less than 
the will and choice of am ijority of the people; and that a 
majority'' of the people can not now deprive any future ma- 
jority of their rights by saying that any minority may 
govern by the institution of laws. But that is not the only 
authority which I can produce among the able and eloquent 
speakers of this body, to prove that the system of represen- 
tation which is proposed by the gentleman from Lowell con- 
flicts directly with the principles of democratic government 
and our republican institutions. We have the same doctrine 
laid down by the gentleman from Natick, as tollows: — 
"Government exists by the consent of the people— the ma- 



87 

jorityofthe people— who alone can give their consent. 

"Whenever or wherever we depart from that idea, wheth- 
er we adopt the plurality rule, or any other rule which al- 
lows less than a majority to rule, we depart from that 
fundamental democratic principle — that American idea — un- 
derlaying all cur American institutions. Nor would the as- 
sent of the people to have a minority of the people govern 
make it any less anti-democratic." 

I cordially agree to that doctrine ; and I ask if it is not the 
effect of the proposition of the gentleman from Lowell to 
"allow less than a majority to rule?" Does not that basis 
depart from "the American idea underlaying all our Ameri- 
can institutions?" I have stated that the doctrine quoted 
is my belief exactly ; and now all I ask is. that gentlemen in 
this Convention who have advanced such views will adhere 
to that principle when they come to vote upon the question. 
But in order to get rid of this difficulty, gentlemen tell us 
that if we adopt what we do, no matter whether it places 
the power in the hands of a majority or of a minority, it is 
democratic, because the majority of the people assent to it. 

I deny this proposition, Sir, altogether. Suppose we 
should choose an emperor, and submit our action to the 
people, and the people assent to it and agree 
to his authority, that would be a democratic 
and republican institution and government! That is 
just what the argument amounts to. The principle 
leads to the conclusion. Now T think that the influence bas- 
ed upon that argument is wholly unfounded. I fully agree 
with the propositions which have been again and again re- 
peated here, that the government must rest in a majority of 
the people ; and I ask those gentlemen who have advanced 
this idea, to act in accordance with it, and show, by their 
vote on the proposition of the gentleman from Lowell, that 



88 

they mean to abide by their professions ; or, at any rate, if 
they do not concur with my deductions, as to the effect of 
that proposition ; I wish them to show how the principle and 
proposition can be reconciled, that we may have the benefit 
of the rule of their action to aid us. As it seems to me, it 
conflicts directly with the democratic principle "underlaying" 
our form of government, and it cannot be denied that it 
gives the government to a minority of the people. I believe 
the most of us claim to be reformers, (and I have been class- 
ed with them) ; we have come here to reform the Constitu- 
tion, and I believe this is one of the points where a reform is 
needed : and I hope, therefore, that in the formation of the 
fundamental law of the Commonwealth, we shall not take 
such a long, disproportionate stride backwards, as to let 
the minority of the people have control of the legislature. I 
am not ready for that. I object to the proposition of the 
gentleman from Lowell, upon that ground, and I hope it 
will be rejected. 

There is still another objection to it, and that is that it is 
unjust. It is well, Sir, for communities as well as for indi- 
viduals, to look occasionally — once in a while, at least — at 
fundamental principles, that we may direct our steps aright, 
and shape our course in wisdom. If we neglect to do so, we 
soon wander in darkness and doubt. 

Now, all we know that, owing to the peculiar constitu- 
tion of this Convention, having come here, as we have, on 
the basis of valuation year, the small towns hold the bal- 
ance of power, and control the proceedings of this bod}'; 
and let me appeal to gentlemen representing those towns — 
is it right and just for us, from the small towns, having the 
power as we have here, to say to our neighbors from the 
cities and large towns, '"you shall not have as much power 
in the legislature of the Commonwealth as we have ?" For 



89 

one. Sir, 1 am not reacl\' to say this. I think the interest and 
prosperity of the large towns and cities are infinitely more 
connected with, and dependent upon, the legislation of the 
State, than the interest of the small town is. We care ])ut 
little if you do reduce the representation of the towns to its 
just and fair proportion, if you leave us the township sj's- 
tera in all its integrity and power. And I do not consider 
the choosing of a representative a necessary function of a 
town, or a right of a municipality, as I understand it. Let 
all the power which we have in the legislature, be that 
which justlj" belongs to us, and it is all that we ask. For if 
we have the township system we can get along very well 
without ANv legislature. All the great interests of 
the social state would be protected, without the aid 
of a legislature. The countrj^ towns are not so 
much offected bj'^ the action of the legislature as the cities 
are. Indeed, we are in the habit of boasting — or I am — of 
our independence of the legislation of the State, and that it 
makes but little difference to us what they do or undo. We 
do not care much what goes on here generally. Now and then 
they pass a liquor law or a railroad loan, that excites us a 
little ; but, with tew exceptions, the proceedings of the 
legislature affect us but little, either for the better or worse. 
The great and general amount of legislation, (and a great 
deal too much,) is for the interest and business of the inhabi- 
tants of the cities and large towns, which are a great 
deal more effected b}^ the results of the legislation of the 
Commonwealth in their welfare and their pursuits, than 
the inhabitants of the rural districts can be. Is it then just 
or right, for us from the rural districts, to control the legis- 
lature ? Can any member from the rural districts reconcile 
it with his conscience, to say that these small towns shall 
hereafter hold and exercise the power of the House of Rep- 



90 

resentatives, and the large towns and cities shall have only 
one-third their equal right and power ? I do not know how 
he can justify himself in so doing ; I cannot justify myself for 
my part. As I said before, I hope our friends from the rural 
districts will look at the principles of justice and equity, rath- 
er than to political considerations and expediency, in mat- 
ters relating to the important business we are now doing. I 
think, Sir, that it is a serious objection, that the proposi- 
tion of the gentleman from Lowell will deprive a large part, 
the MAJORITY, of the inhabitants of the Commonwealth, ac- 
cording to the census of 1850, of two-thirds of their just and 
equal proportion of power in the legislation of the Common- 
wealth, when their interests are so much more affected by 
it than the interests of the rural districts. 

But, Sir, although I am disposed to vote to make the plan 
submitted by the gentleman from Lowell, as perfect as pos- 
sible — and for that purpose T shall vote for the amendment 
offered by the gentleman from Northampton, (Mr. 
Huntington,) — I shall vote against that and 

every other scheme submitted which does not tend to 
reduce the House, and which will not give every voter in the 
Commonwealth an equal power at the polls, and every part 
of the Commonwealth represented every year. 

MR. BUTLER. I desire to ask the gentleman if he is in 
favor of the present plan. 

MR. HASKELL, In preference to any other system which 
has been proposed, except the district system. There is 
another reason why I think we ought to adhere to the pres- 
ent system. I have already alluded to some of the proceed- 
ings and views of the legislature of 1839, upon the subject, 
and if the Convention will excuse me, I will detain them a 
single moment in regard to the manner of the introduction 
of the present system before the legislature. T think I am 



91 

correct in the facts which I shall state, for I have referred to 
a memorandum which I had, to see if my memory was cor- 
rect ; and if I am incorrect, the gentleman from Boston, be- 
fore me, (Mr. Gray,) — who was a member of that legisla- 
ture — can set me right. 

In 1839. it was found that the county of Suffolk had in- 
creased so enormousl}^ in wealth, that it was found to be 
entitled to nearly one-third of the senatorial representation 
of the State. The amount which it paid for public purposes, 
according to the valuation, entitled it to that number. The 
first proposition that was submitted to the legislature, in 
either of its branches, was one which proposed that the 
basis of representation in the Senate should be altered before 
the next census should be taken, in 1840, upon the ground 
that Suffolk was then, in 1839. entitled to one-third of the 
whole senatorial vote— thirteen or fourteen out of forty , 
and because, according to the estimated encrease ol her 
wealth, at the next census, in 1840. she would show a con- 
stitutional right to one-half the Senate. I have in my hand 
the report of the committee on that subject, and the ma- 
jority reported that it was inexpedient to alter the basis of 
the Senate ; and the minority reported that upon the then 
constitutional provisions, Suffolk would have a senator for 
every six thousand inhabitants, and that Barnstable, with 
a population of thirty thousand, would not be entitled to 
one senator. The matter then, after having been referred to 
a committee, came before the House upon the report of a 
majority of that committee, against any change, and the re- 
port of the minority, adverse to the report of the majority. 
The minority reported that the basis ought to be changed 
in order to prevent the county of Suffolk from being entitled 
to nearly one-half of the whole number of senators at the 
next valuation. In the action of the legislature upon this 



^2 

subject, the proposition was brought forward, that the 
basis of the representation of the House of Representatives, 
as well as of the Senate, should be changed, and that both 
should be fixed upon the amount of population. This propo- 
sition was referred to a new committee, who were instruct- 
ed to consider the expediency of placing both the Senate and 
the House of Representatives upon a population basis. I 
shall not attempt to go into the details of what transpired 
after the matter was referred to the new committee, of 
which the gentleman from Boston, (Mr. Gray,) I believe, 
was the chairman. The majority of the committee reported 
in favor of a system of districting — in favor of dividing the 
State into forty-seven districts, for the choice of as many 
representatives each as the number of two thousand five 
hundred should be contained in the number of the whole 
population of the district. No town lines were crossed, and 
no county lines, except that the town of Chelsea was annex- 
to a part of the county of Essex. And both the majority 
and minority reports proposed a population basis for both 
branches: That system of districts was not acceptable to 
the House, and the present system was introduced by the 
recommendation of the minority of the committee. I will 
not trouble the House with any details on that point. The 
result of it was, that, in consideration that the county of 
Suffolk was deprived of more than one-half of her senatorial 
force, a proposition was made and adopted, that the towns 
should be regarded as representative districts, and that 
representation in both branches of the legislature should be 
based upon the population. 

The minority of the committee which reported the present 
system, say: — 

"In advocating town representation, we have nothing to 
say of corporate rights. It is the people whom we would 



93 

have represented, and not corporations. If our districts 
ought to be small — and the little we have said shows plainly 
that they should be — towns, on every consideration, ought 
to constitute those districts." 

The minority of the Committee then go on to say: — '*The 
amendment proposed by us, so lar as relates to the House 
of Representatives, is nearly the same with that of the Con- 
vention of 1820. That highly respectable assembly, second 
to none which ever convened in this Commonwealth, in 
either talent or intelligence, in their address to the people of 
Massachusetts, used the following language: "We are all 
agreed that representation should be according to popula- 
tion, in this branch. It was the general opinion that the 
number should bs reduced, that town representation should 
be preserved," &c. And again : "We will not say that this 
system is the best that could be ; but we may justly say 
that we have spared no exertion to form, and to present to 
you, the best which we could devise.' " 

That Convention substantially recommended in 1820 the 
same system which now exists, with the single exception 
that towns not having population sufficient to entitle them 
to one representative, (1,200,) should have a representative 
each other ^xar and be classed in two divisions, and that 
the House should not exceed two hundred and seventy-five. 
The whole tenor of the argument contained in that report of 
the committee in 1839, is to show that the large towns 
ought not to complain that they were deprived of a part of 
their power. They did, however, complain at the time, and 
there was some reason for it, though the system was not as 
unjust as either of the plans which are now before us. 

Now, Sir, I submit that it is hardly just to say that the 
present system is so full of iniquity and injustice as some 
seem to think, when it has had the deliberate sane don of 



94 

the Convention of the 1820, and of two legislatures, and of 
the people of the State. True, it was at first rejected by the 
people when submitted in 1820, but it has since been ratified 
by them, with a slight modification. 

The point to which I particularly desired to call the at- 
tention of the Convention was this, that according to the 
principles upon which the Commonwealth of Massachusetts 
had before acted, the right of representation in the Senate 
according to taxation had, up to 1839, been recognized, and 
under it, Sufif(3lk was entitled to one-third of the senators, 
and the counties of Essex and Middlesex absorbed a good 
proportion of the rest. It was found necessary therefore, 
that the basis should be changed from valuation to popula- 
tion, and Suffolk, Essex and Middlesex fell in with the pro- 
position upon the ground that these corporate rights, as 
they have been termed — though I take a different view of 
the matter from some gentlemen — were relinquished in some 
degree by the small towns. T, therefore, think it unjust to 
undertake to deprive the large towns of their right to re- 
presentation according to population, since we have hereto- 
fore taken from them their rights under the old system, upon 
the ground that population was the proper basis. 

I do not justify or defend the ancient basis of the Senate. 
I do not say it should have been preserved. But it was the 
"practice of the fathers," and was sanctified by the "usage 
of centuries ;" it had been a part of the policy of the govern- 
ment from the earliest settlement of the Commonwealth, to 
base representation, in part, upon taxable estates ; it was, 
in 1839, the right — the constitutional right — of Suffolk, and 
the wealthy counties to insist upon that basis. Thej^ held it 
to be as sacred as that of town representation, as it exists 
under this present, or as it had existed under any prior Con- 
stitution ; they surrendered it for a population basis in both 



D5 

branches ; and is it just that we should now deprive them of 
the benefits which fell to them, and claim those which ac- 
crued to us, under the basis thus established ? I think not. 

Now, Sir, I prefer the present system, in answer to the 
question of the gentleman from Lowell, (Mr. Butler,) unless 
we can have an equal system, which shall materially reduce 
the House— which shall give to every voter a representation 
every year, and a right to vote for an equal number of rep- 
resentatives, and by which each representative shall be the 
representative and exponent of the political power of the 
same number of population, or legal voters. Do this, and 
for one, I am indifferent whether these results are secured by 
a town or district system, or whether the districts are large 
or small, or whether representation is based upon popula- 
tion or upon legal voters ; though, I think, the latter the 
proper basis for representation in both branches of the 
legislature. 

Although this S3'stem was adopted by the Convention ; 
this and all the rest of its work was defeated by the public, 
mainly on account of the plan of representation. 

In the fall of 1853 I was elected to the legislature. In the 
session of 1854 nothing that I said or did is of interest now, 
except perhaps what I said in opposition to the loan of the 
State to the Trox'- & Greenfield R, R. Co. to the amount of 
$2,000,000. From the return of the corporation, sworn to by 
its officers, it was shown that it consisted of only seventeen 
stockholders who had taken only $160,000 of the stock and 
that of this amount, one firm had subscribed for $100,000, 
who constituted the corporation, while they had paid in only 
$250 for that stock. Strange as it must now seem this loan 
was granted by the legislature, but it failed of effect by the 
inabilit3^ of the corporation to conform to the conditions 
upon which it was granted. 



96 

The only deliberately prepared speech I ever made in the 
legislature was in opposition to this absurd measure. I 
spent much time and labor in getting information on the 
whole matter— the difficulties of the undertaking, the cost of 
much work, the inadequacy of the returns or income from it, 
and the inutility of the undertaking and the folly of making 
such a loan to such a corporation. 

The speech occupied most of the time through two daily 
sessions of the House, and no answer to its facts or reasoning 
was made or attempted by any member, and not a word of 
it was reported in the daily papers at that time. The same 
means and appliances with which the "Lobby" had worked 
the bill through the legislature, were also potent enough 
to silence the reporters for the press. 

I had only a single sheet in my brief, which 1 still have, 
and I have felt sorry that so little publicity was given to 
what I had prepared — especially as the subsequent history 
of the undertaking — verified so fully much that I then de- 
clared would be the result of the measure. 

In 1855 the "Know-nothing" craze swept over Massachu- 
setts. I was urged to cast my lot with that party. I openly 
and emphatically condemned it — both in its methods and 
doctrines. 

This course left me to the comfort and enjoyment of 
private life for a year, but only for one year for in 1856 I 
was chosen one of the commissioners of Essex county, for 
the term of three years. I found the duties of this office very 
agreeable to me. They were various but not onerous. 
Many required out door labor in all parts of the county, 
and with no worrying, care or anxiety, my life passed more 
pleasantly than in a lawyer's office. But these labors and ab- 
scencesfrom my office interfered much with my law practice, 
and caused my clients to be complaining of mj' absence and 



D7 

of their difficulty in finding me. I therefore concluded in 
1858 to give up my general practice of the law and take 
down my sign. 

In 1859, after I had served two years as a commissioner, 
during which the commissioners were paid by the day and 
travel, the legislature in a fit of spasmodic economy, reduced 
the compensation to $2500 per year for the three. This pay 
was very inadequate and unreasonable, We each paid the 
Eastern R. R. $100 per year for what we might ride on that 
road on official business. We were often required to i<ct in 
remote jJart* of the county and I found it necessary to keep 
a horse. 

In entering upon our duties we found gross abuses, exces- 
sive and illegal expenditures in every department of county 
business. My associates were sensible and capable men, 
but were not familiar with the "fee bills," or with the pro- 
visions of law authorizing and regulating of county expendi- 
tures, and they fully approved my plan and efforts to bring 
them within legal bounds. 

Under the reforms introduced, the expenditures of the 
county were reduced in the two years of our service, to an 
amount $35,000 less than they had been on the average for 
the five preceeding years. 

This appears from the following published statement of 
the receipts and expenditures of the county of Essex for the 
years above refered to : — 

Year. Tax. Expenditures. Debt, on Notes. 

1853 $55,200 $137,361.83 $176,904.16 

164,771.36 247,596.66 

146,960.09 305,064.66 

115,327.35 301,634.66 

102,235.44 288,233.50 

97,641.52 285,244.50 



1854 


78,220 


1855 


78,220 


1856 


98,400 


1857 


98,400 


1858 


80.000 



. 98 

After such careful and successful service for the county, 
and the closing of my law office that I might give more at- 
tention and time to these official duties, I felt indignant that 
the pay had been reduced about one-half, and I also felt 
aggrieved at the want of appreciation on the part of the 
public which I had served, and I resigned the office in the 
spring of 1859. 

In the fall of that year. 1859, I was elected to the legisla- 
ture. At the close of the session I was released of all care 
and responsibility of official labor and I gave my attention 
to the cultivation of my land, fruit trees and vines, and es- 
pecially to new, diversified experiments for the production of 
a really good grape that could be successfully grown in this 
country, being all the time undecided about resuming my 
law labors. 

In the spring of 1861, however, 1 was seized with threaten- 
ing head troubles, which the best medical advisers thought 
indicated impending appoplexy, and continued mental labor 
was interdicted, I was bled, all meat was forbidden, and 
for three years or more I was almost starved to death, and 
from this depletion I did not fully recover until 1866, and 
then all thought of resuming the practice of law was aban- 
doned. On the restoration of my health a few years later, I 
did not resume general practise of the law on account of the 
unpleasantness of Judge Shaw towards me, and which he 
manifested whenever I appeared before him. 

This conduct not only embarrassed me, but I feared my 
clients might suffer from his injustice to me, and I was sure 
that they would not consider me a safe counsel in cases that 
might come betore this court, and would not give me their 
business on that account. 

This ill-feeling toward me originated in one of my early cases 
in 1857, that came before the full court. It was a case of 



99 

appeal from the Court of Common Pleas, in refusing to ar- 
rest a judgment on the ground that the verdict was not re- 
sponsive to the issue, and would not support a judgment. 
The Supreme Court sustained this view of the verdict, but in- 
stead of arresting the judgment as the Statute required them 
to do, the Chief Justice sent the case back to the Common 
Pleas to have the verdict amended or a new trial ordered. 

When the case came up in the Common Pleas, I objected 
to any action in this court on the ground that the appeal 
had removed the case entireh-- from this court. 

The Judge in this court, (Ward) refused at first to do any- 
thing further with the case — saying if the Supreme Court 
had made such a mistake they must correct it. The counsel 
for the other side, O. P. Lord, went to see Shaw about it 
and he told me that Chief Justice Shaw was very indignant 
that I did not call attention to the matter when the decision 
was rendered ; and that he told him (Lord) that he should 
not lose his verdict. 

I expressed my surprise that Chief Justice Shaw should say 
this without giving me a chance to be heard, and that I did 
not see how he could do anything about it, as the case 
was not before him, nor even in his court. I think this re- 
mark was repeated to Shaw and that he never forgave me 
for it. 

A few years later while arguing a pauper case before the 
full bench, he asked me in a very oifensive tone and manner, 
what I meant by the word "'inhabitancy" — a word repeated- 
ly usscd by the court in a decision I had just read ; I replied 
that I used it as synonymous with settlement — it was so 
used by the court in the case I had just read. 

In this case it was claimed that the pauper's father gain- 
ed a settlement in Ipswich while residing in that part of it 
which is now Essex. I spoke of it as a settlement gained in 



100 

that part of Ipswich which is now Essex. Shaw asked me 
very offensively, if I claimed that a settlement could be had 
in a part of a town, 

I replied, no your honor; the settlement would pertain to 
the whole town, but it might be acquired in a particular 
part. He then said, "your language is not correct," you 
should say: the pauper's settlement in Ipswich was derived 
from his father, which the iather gained in Ipswich while 
living in that part which is now Essex. 

I did not accept this language, nor did 1 repeat my former 
expression. I soon had my revenge. In the next case I read, 
Chief Justice Parker, in giving the opinion of the court, says: 
'Did Benj. Glasier, the pauper," gain a settlement in that 
part of Lancaster which is "now West Roylston ?" Here I 
stopped reading and remarked, your honor will observe the 
Court here uses the same language I have used. I cannot de- 
scribe the effect this remark had on Shaw's face, but Dewey 
laughed and jogged Bigelow's elbow, and Gushing 
smiled. 

I then commenced the reading the opinion again, giving due 
emphasis to the expression or language Shaw had condemned. 

After receiving these interruptions upon such unfounded 
reasons, I declared I would never appear before him again, 
and I never did. I was not willing to occupy a position in 
which I could be insulted without the right to resent it, and 
all the cases in my charge were turned over to other 
counsel. 

When I sat down the members of the bar expressed their 
gratification at the keen and deserved rebuke I had given 
Shaw. I told them I would never appear before him again, 
and I never did, and that road to wealth and fame, which 
appeared to be open before me, was thus closed 
forever. 



101 

In 1862 there were many of each of the three parties, Whig, 
Democratic and Free Soil, much dissatisfied and alarmed at 
the rash, offensive and unwarrantable language toward the 
South which many of the prominent men in official stations 
used, and the unlawful and unconstitutional policv advocat- 
ed by them. 

These men fearing the effect of such conduct upon the future 
of the nation, called upon those who agreed with them in 
this opinion in this senatorial district, to choose delegates 
to a convention to nominate a candidate for the State Senate. 

The convention met in the fall of 1862. I was then nominat- 
ed, but on account of my feeble health, declined to accept the 
nomination in a letter addressed to the president of the con- 
vention, as follows: — 

B. H.Corliss, Esq , President of the People's Convention, &c.: 

Sir, — T have been duly notified of my nomination for the Senate 
by the People's Convention of the 5th Essex Senatorial District. 
The nomination was made by a convention composed mostly of 
gentlemen, in whose general views and actions on political subjects 
I cannot concur; and I am informally informed that I was thus 
nominated because, among other reasons, of my known objections 
to the re-election of Mr. Sumner to the United States Senate. It is 
true, I have, and have freely expressed, a decided opinion that it 
would be unwise to re-elect Mr. Sumner. That opinion has subject- 
ed me to unkindness and censure from many, who, I supposed, 
would respect my motives if they did not concur in my opinion. In 
declining to accept that nomination, as I now do, I desire to show 
to such persons, that it is possible for a man to have an opinion 
based upon other foundations than considerations of personal 
interest or advantage, or a desire for office. 

I think I have good reasons for the opinion I have expressed 
against Mr. Sumner's re-election, and I trust that, as I shall have 
no other occasion to lay those reasons before the public without 
obtrusiveness, you will excuse me for stating them on this occasion, 
although I decline your nomination. My reason for this opinion 
are these : 



103 

Mr. Suraner^s conduct has tended to strengthen the rebellion. 

It has tended to increase the obstacles to a restoration of the 
Union, 

It has tend3d to weaken our own army. 

His conduct hereafter will hinder the final settlement of the con- 
test which now distracts the country. 

At the outbreak of the rebellion there were hundreds of thousands 
of loyal men in the iSouth, and amonj? the slaveowners who manful- 
ly withstood the torrent of secession, asserting in justification of 
their loyalty that the general government had no design to interfere 
with the local right which the master held and enjoved under the 
Constitution of the Union. What inade those loyal men rebels? 
While the question of life and death to the Union was trembling in 
the balance in North Carolina and Tennessee, andeyen in Virginia, 
continued attacks upon the rights and feelings of these men as 
slave owners were made by Mr. iSumner in his speeches in Con- 
gress; and several measures, right in themselves, were pressed by 
him and urged through Congress, by which these men were depriv- 
ed of risrhts they had always enjoyed under the union; and this 
was done while those most effected by these measures had no op- 
portunity to be heard against them. Was it wise to exercise our 
power in this manner at such a crisis? and thus to take from the 
loyal men at he South the only support upon which they could 
stand in defence of their loyalty upon Southern ground, and to 
make the Union more objectionable to the South at the very mo- 
ment of its greatest peril ? 

Mr. Sumner's conduct has tended to invigorate the exertions of the 
rebels by exasperating their passions. His resolutions for the po- 
litical annihilation of the seceded States and the imposition of a 
government over them as territories, and other similar schemes, 
were of no use except that thev provoked the people of the South. 
H>i has advocated the most extreme measures against them — some 
measures, indeed, such as the rejected confiscation bill, which it 
would be hard, if not impossible, to sustain by any just interpreta- 
tion of the Constitution or laws < f war. I refer to the confiscation 
bill which was defeated by the opposition and superior sagacity 
and justice of the loyal Senators — Cowan of Penn., Collamer of Vt., 
Clark of N. H., and Fessenden of Me. Mr. Sumner advocated these 
measures in a manner, in language and upon grounds, calculated to 



103 

irritate and annoy those against whom these measures were direct- 
ed. 

By s>uch conduct and measures I think the rebels have been 
strengthened in both their numbers and determination, the Union 
has been made more objectionable to the South than it was, and 
new obstacles to the restoration of the Union have been interposed 
between the sections. 

Mr, Sumner's conduct has tended to weaken our own army. How? 
By his repeated attacks upon Gen. McClellan. While that General 
was commander of our army, he attacked him openly in debate in 
the Senate, and he has since then repeated the attack — finding fault 
with that General's military movements, and intimating doubts of 
his capacity, if not of his loyalty. Within a few weeks a paper has 
been circulated all over the state, under the frank of Mr. Sumner as 
Senator, in which paper Gen. McClellan is assailed — and it is 
charged that "his delay before Centreville lost our army a fine 
blow, and made us the laughing-stock of the world," "his delay on 
the Potomac permitted that river to be blockaded, and could not 
have cost the countrv less than one hundred millions, for which 
we have nothing to show but defeat and disgrace;" "his delay be- 
fore Yorktown permitted the enemy to collect their army and make 
their fortifications impregnable;" "his delay on the peninsula 
buried 100,000 of the best troops the world ever saw," and that "it is 
probable that his delay to evacuate the peninsula prevented Frank- 
lin and Sumner from reinforcing Pope, and thus brought on the 
second disaster at Manassas." The same paper contains two other 
articles, copied from other papers, attacking Gen. McClellan in a 
similar spirit. This paper, as before stated, has recently been 
scattered broadcast over the Commonwealth und»r the Senatorial 
frank of Mr. Sumner. 

Can aoy citizen be guilty of a greater folly, or crime even, than 
that of weakening the confidence of our army in its appointed 
leader, while they are standing face to face with the enemy? 
What, then, must be the lack of loyalty or wisdom in a Senator 
who will do, and has done the same thing? and who does this, too, 
while the earnest exertions of every loyal man are needed to rein- 
force that army by voluntary enlistments ! With what face could 
Mr. Sumner ask a man to enlist under such a commander, or who 
would volunteer under such a General as he represents Gen. Mc- 



104 

Clellan to be ? and with what awful misgivings would a man go 
into battle, if he believed, or even feared, he had such a guide ! 

It is upon these facts that I think Mr. Sumner has, by his indis- 
creet and passionate conduct, strengthened the rebels — weakened 
our own army, and increased the obstacles to a restoration of the 
Union ; and thousands of lives and million of dollars must be lost 
in overcoming the disastrous influence of the speeches he has made 
and the policy he has advocated in Congress. 

Can we expect any real aid from Mr. Sumner, in the final settle- 
ment of the contest that now distracts the country ? 

When and in what form that settlement will com»i, no man can 
now tell. This terrible contest should be continued only for one ob- 
ject, and that is — the unity of all our territory as one country, un- 
der the Constitution of our fathers and the Government of our 
choice. To secure this object, gold and blood have been poured out 
without stint and without measure. Under the circumstances in 
which the government was placed, this was unavoidable. We can- 
not complain of it. It is only by occasional sacrifices of this nature 
that a nation lives. But the burden will be heavier and the afflc- 
tions greater yet, I fear, before we secure that unity of our country 
upon which we all insist. And yet Mr. Sumner declares in advance, 
that he will not be satisfied with a peace which secures such unity 
by a return of the South to its allesfiance and duty, and that the 
war ought to be carried beyond that — that slavery must be destroy- 
ed throughout the South — that the cnuse, the power and the motive 
of rebellion must be annihilated. He does this in his recent speech 
in Fanuel Hall, in which he says: 

"The force of the rebellion may be broken, even without an ap- 
peal to the slaves. But I am sure that M'ith the slaves our 
victory will be more prompt, while without them, it can never be 
effectual — completely to crush out the rebellion. It is not enough to 
beat armies. Rebel communities, envenomed against the Union, 
must be reclaimed, and a wide spread region must be pacified. This 
can be done only by the removal of the cause of all the trouble, 
and the consequent assimilation of the people, so that no man shall 
call another master. If slavery be regarded as a disease, it must 
be extirpated by knife and cautery, for only in this way can the 
healthful operations of national life be restored. If it be regarded 
as a motive it must be expelled from the system, that it may no 



105 

longer exercise its disturbing influence. So long as slavery con- 
tinues, the States in which it exists will fly madly from the Union: 
but with the destruction of slavery, they will lose all such motive 
and will rather prefer to nestle under its wing. The slave States, 
by the influence of slavery, are now centrifugal ; but with slavery 
out of the system, these same States will be centripetal. Such is 
the law of their being. And it should be the policy of the Govern- 
ment at this time to take advantage of this law, for the benefit of 
the Union. Nay, from the necessity of the case this should be 
done. 

Let the war end on the battle-field alone, and it will be only in 
appearance that it will end; not in reality. Time will be gained for 
new efforts, and slavery will coil itself to spring again. The rebel- 
lion may seem to be vanquished, and yet it will triumph. The 
Union may seem to conquer. And yet it will succumb. The Re- 
public may seem to be saved and yet it will be lost." 

Mr. Sumner thus, and in other parts of the same speech, depre- 
cates a peace unless slavery is destroyed, and calls upon the peo- 
ple of Massachusetts not to be content with the restoration of 
peace and unity in our land, but to consider the Union as defeated 
when thus restored, and the republic as lost when thus saved, un- 
less slavery is abolished througliout the South; and, by implica- 
tion, they are urged to continue the war, even after the South 
should be willing to return to its allegiancp, until slavery is abolish- 
ed there; declaring that a peace without this would be undesirable 
and worthless ! 

Are the people of Massachusetts ready for a contest upon this 
issue? Few of the living will see the termination of tht bloody 
strife, if it is allowed to go on witn this end in view. In such a 
contest we would arm the entire white population of the South 
with the energy which accompanies a struggle for individual life; 
and before we could subdue the South upon such a policy as this, 
the horrors of war in both sections would be tenfold greater than 
they have yet been. Paralysis would seize every pursuit — impov- 
erishment, if not want, would be felt under every roof — vacant 
places would be found at every board, and desolate hearts round 
every hearthstone. Those who think this object can be gained by 
any number of victories upon the battle-field or by a few years of 
warfare had better ask themselves what we would do and suffer 
under similar circumstances, before we would be conquered by 



106 

them, and be deprived by violence of local rights which the Con- 
stitution of our fathers does not permit the general government to 
interfere with. 

I cannot support this policy or any man who advocates it. We 
of the North are all now united in this contest for the noblest of 
causes, the national life — for the existence of a country audits con- 
stitutional government — without which we should literally have 
no abiding place upon the earth ; our homes would be like boiats 
upon the sea, and life itself a vagrancy. 

I do not wish to see the contest degenerate into a bloody struggle 
for the emancipation of the black race in the South. In such a 
struggle we should surely find the loyal men of the North divided, 
and in its course and termination woe would equally betide the fate 
of the black man and the destiny of the nation. 

Yours, &c., GEORGE HASKELL. 

Ipswich, Oct. 20, 1862. 

This public expression of my oponions kept me free of 
political labors for several years. Being then in poor health 
I devoted my attention and time to the cultivation of my 
land, the improvement of my orchard, experiments in drain- 
ing, and the trial of the artificial compound or fertilizers 
then in the market ; and especially for the production of 
good hardy grapes by cross-fertilization which could be suc- 
cessfully grown in this country. The results of these labors 
were published from time to time in the Country Gentle- 
man during the next twenty years, or until 1884. Some ot 
these experiments and my observations of the results have 
been fully verified by later experience and may be as useful 
now as when written, and such are therefore inserted in this 
work. 

I adopted a systematic course of cross-fertilizing of the 
foreign and native grape, to obtain a good grape adapted 
to our soil and climate, keeping a careful record of the results 
of every cross to guide me in my future labor. This course 
has been followed for more than thirty years. 



lot 

The first report of mj labor in this matter was published 
in the Country Gentleman in 1863, and was as follows :— 

Editors of The Country Gentleman. — It is not rash to 
promise horticulturists some new and valuable varieties of grapes 
before many years have passed. 80 many cultivators are experi- 
menting in the production of new varieties, and the means used for 
modifying the fruit and vine are so various, that new kinds must 
result from these experiments, and it wonld be more than a miricle 
if they are all bad. 

During the last fifteen years, and every year during that time, I 
have tried in various ways to harden the foreign vine and amelio- 
rate the native fruit. Generation after generation of vines, and tens 
of thousands of plants have been raised, condemned and destroyed 
as worthless. I have planted the seeds of the best natives for three 
or four generations, selecting the most promising in each genera- 
tion for reproduction. A few of these are still on "probation," but 
most all of them were infertile or worthless. I have planted the 
seed of the foreign varieties — nursing them with care until they 
were two or three years old; but I have never seen one yet that 
would survive for two years after that, unless that care and cover- 
ing, &c., were continued. I have let them die. I have grafted each 
species upon the other and planted the seeds thus produced; but 
the stock did not in either case impart any new, or its own 
qualities, to the fruit or vine of seedlings thus produced, and they 
came to nothing different from seedlings of foreign or native, 
grown on their own root. I have inarched a shoot of one species 
over first bloom of the other; and after a few weeks, and before the 
grapes were half grown, cutting off the shoot proper to the fruit a 
few inches above the inarch, and cutting the same shoot off a few 
inches below the inarch, thus leaving a piece of wood six or eight 
inches long, bearing the cluster, connected by the inarchment 
with, and growing upon ai.ien roots, and maturing this fruit under 
the foliage of an alien species. Foreign grapes were thus put 
upon and under native grape vines and foliage, and native fruits 
upon and under foreign vines and foliage, f expected most from 
this process, but have been disappointed in this as much as in the 
other trials. Its effects upon the fruit on the cluster thus suspend- 



108 

ed was such as to upset the theory of the physiologrist, as to the 
iufluance or agency of the leaf in the production of fruit; but I will 
not comment on that now. I have ascertained only one result so 
far as this process affects the seedlings from the grapes thus sus- 
pended. It does not etfect the constitutional pbopekties op 
THE VINES thus produced. The grapes yield seedling vines no- 
wise different in foliage or hardihood from those produced by the 
same grapes grown in their usual way. The effect upon the fruit 
of the saadlings thus produced is yet to be seen. 

For the past two years I have tried to effect the desired changes 
of cross-fertilization. This process seems the most rational, but by 
even tliis every change is effected by chance, andjthe result is mere 
.,U8SS-work. 1 hope it will not be so much longer. I have morn 
t'.iuii three hundred seedlings, the products of sixteen different 
t.',rt>sse« between native and foreign vines. I have crossed the 
foreign witli the native and the native with the foreign — the black 
with the white and the white with the black — and reversed the 
pai'eiitau'e of grapes of different colors, forms, toliage and size of 
fruit and clu!>ter, in so many ways that I have no doubt we shall be 
able to discover thereby tiie law that governs the modification of 
the fruit and vine by this process. Nor will it be many years be- 
fore we shall see 'he full effects of tliis process, for most of these 
vines are very vigorous — many of them being now, Aug. 18th, more 
than eight feet high, from seed planted last spring. 

One tfTect of these crosses is already so obvious and universal 
that it may bj affirmed to be a rule or law in this matter; and that 
is, that the native parent, whether staminate or pistillate, has a 
predominant influence in giving the form and other characteristics 
of foliage to the seedlings, and that when the parent species are of 
equ il vigor, the staminate parent Imparts those characteristics. For 
illustration, in more than sixty seedlings of Hamburgh, fertilixed 
with Pigeon or Frost, there is not one that has a decided resemb- 
liince to the Hamburgh in foliage; and the seedlings of the Ham- 
burgh fertilized with Fox, have foliage much more lilie the Fox 
tlnui liKe the Hamburgh, and almost precisely like Fox seedlings 
fertilized with Hamburgh. The seedlings of Pigeon fertilized with 
Hamburgh, have foliage much more like Pigeon than like Ham- 
burtfh, though it is more like the Hamburghs than are the Ham- 
burghs fertilized with Pigeon or Frost. 



109 

Precisely the same results are seen in the various crosses be- 
tween the Frontignacs and the natives. The native pistillate parent 
and foreign staminate parent yield vines having foliage very much 
like the native parent, but considerably modified in some particu- 
lars; while the foreign pistillate and the native staminate yield 
vines with foliage most like the native staminate parent, and much 
less like the foreign than those have when the cross is the other 
way; but in both ways the native predominates. 

From these facts I think it is clear that the staminate parent has 
most influence in giving the form and other characteristics of the 
foliage; but that this rule is modified by the comparative vigor of 
the two species — the superior vigor of the native pistillate counter- 
acting in a considerable degree the general influence and effect of 
the staminate (foreign.) 

By similar observation of these plants when they bear fruit, in 
reference to the color of the fruit, and the form and size of the 
fruit and cluster, I think we may discover the law which governs 
this process of modification, and ascertain which parent imparts 
the constitutional qualities of the vine, and which the qualities of 
the fruit, perhaps clearly enough to enable us to produce new 
varieties to order. This, however, must be the work of time — of 
patience and diligent investigation. By one way or the other, I 
think we shall be quite sure of ultimately obtaining good and early 
fruit and hardy vines. 

Excuse tills long letter; viewed by itself it is long, but in refer- 
ence to the multiplied and long-continued labors which it records, 
it is brief — very brief. 

GEORGE HASKELL. 

Ipswich, Mass., Aug. 18, 1863. 

In entering upon a systematic course of cross-fertilization, 
I found great confusion and uncertainty in the number, de- 
scriptions and nomencuiture of i:he so-called American 
species. Botonical names have been affixed to many such 
species ; but not one of these indicate any peculiar and in- 
variable trait or characteristic which distinguished it from 
the others, except Riparia, nor is any such characteristic or 
trait mentioned. 



110 

In reply to professors of Botany, as to what species I 
claimed to be the Riparia and the Pigeon, I sent the follow- 
ing reply : — 

Editors Country Gentleman — Much difference of opiuion ex- 
ists as to the number of species of the grapevine indigenous to 
North America. A correspondent some time since stated tliat tliere 
were eleven, which he undertook to describe; and Mr. Pringle of 
Vermont, in your paper Feb. 1, expressed some doubt as to wliich 
of two species the pigeon grape belonged to which I used in 
crossing — whether the costivalis or cordifolia ? — I can truly 
say I don't know. But I can safely say that it belongs to either, or 
both, for I do not know and never could find any specific difference 
in the so-called species. There is much variation in the foliage of 
the pigeon grapes of this vicinity, but the foliage and manner of 
growth of the Clinton is a correct likeness of a large proportion of 
these wild vines. After much inquiry and investigation, I doubt 
if we have more than one species of grape idigeuous to this 
country. Loudon describes five such — the Labruska, ^stivalis, 
Cordifolia, Raparia and Vulpina. His description of the Labruska, 
Riparia and Vulpina, all apply to our Fox grape or meadow grape, 
and what he says of the ^stivalis and Cordifolia describes equally 
well our pigeon or wild grape; nor do his descriptions of the five 
species give us one characteristic of a species which is not equally 
applicable to all. The most constant distinction between the three 
first and two last is that the former almost always grow in a wild 
state by the side of streams, or in swamps and wet ground, while 
the last two are almost as constantly found on high land, and very 
seldom in the favorite location of the former. If this difference in 
habitat indicates a specific difference,- then we may have two 
specifics; otherwise, I think we have but one. 

After describing the five species, Loudon adds: "the American 
species have been considerably reduced by Messrs. Torry and Gray, 
but it appeals to us the reduction might have been carried still 
farther. Indeed, from the above described species in the Hort. 
Society's garden, we are mucli inclined to think they a^re only 
varieties of the same species. They certainly do not differ more 
from each other than the known varieties of the common cultivated 
grape." 

L have examined the wild vines in all this region, and from Flori- 
da to Ohio, and find the most marked characteristics common to 
them all. Even the Scupper. long, so often regarded as a distinct 



Ill 

species, has the coloi- of our northern Fox; has a hard, sour pulp, 
drops from the cluster, has few berries in the bunch, and thrives 
best in wet locations, like the Fox. TJie foliage and wood differ 
from the northern Fox somewhat. I think it is only a southern 
variety of the Raparia, the most descriptive designation of what 
we call the Fox grape. 

It is, however, a matter of little value to us whether we have 
more or less species, so long as uone of tljem give one variety of 
really good and wliolesome fruit. 

Essex Coimty, Mats., May, :872. GEORGE H \SKELL. 

I can see no reason to change the opinion I then expressed, 
except to add that there is a great difference in the texture 
of the roots of these two species — the Riaparia and Pigeon 
(or Frost:) the former being soft, herbaceous, like the root of 
a cabbage, and those of the latter being ligneous, woody, 
like those of an oak : and this difference explains why each 
succeeds oaly in its peculiar habitat— the one on the banks 
of streams and the moist alluvian, and the other on the 
hard dry soil of the hills. 

The constancy of the predilection of these two species — 
the one for the banks of the stream and moist alluvian, 
and the other for the hard and dry soil of the hills— seem to 
justify the designation I would give them — the Riparia and 
Highland. 

Both these species and the Scuppernong have been used in 
my experiments. 

The J^^cuppernong blooms very late, and it was difficult to 
bring it into bloom at the same time as the foreign, and it 
seemed to have no desirable qualities. 

Desiring to stock my land on Heartbreak Hill with fruit 
trees, I commenced planting the seed, hoping that I might 
obtain some good varieties. I bought many bushels of the 
native pears grown on the healthiest trees in this vicinity, 
and saved and planted the seed. 

When large enough to furnish grafts, 1 took grafts from 
those which appeared most promising and grafted them 



112 

upon bearing trees. Not one of them, however, bore fruit 
worth saving. 

I planted out in this pleasant site, in rows thirty links 
apart and twenty links apart in the row, more than 
2000 of these trees. When large enough I budded or grafted 
them with more than 100 of the varieties most highly re- 
commended. Most of these varieties have borne fruit, but 
not more than a dozen are worth growing in this section 
and perhaps it would have been better to discard one-half of 
these. 

I had rather better luck in raising peaches from seed. I had 
two out of several hundred raised that I found worth saving; 
one of very excellent flavor, and one quite good and pro- 
ductive, and very hardy in this region. 

Although I did not succeed in obtaming new and good 
grapes, pears and peaches by these experiments in planting 
the seed, I learnt a valuable lesson in regard to the necessity 
of having seed that w^as thoroughly ripe. There was a great 
difference in the vigor and growth of plants from the 
same lot of seeds, planted together in the soil, 
and all treated alike and under the same 
conditions. On reflection and continued observation, 
and experiment, I was sure that this appearance in growth 
depended on the condition of the seed as to maturity, I 
therefore sent the following communication to the Country 
Gentleman :— 

Editors of the Country Gentleman — The experiment of 
your correspondent, A. E. B., described in your paper of July 12th, 
is deservinfj: of especial attention, as it shows the importance and 
influence of GOOD seed. Upon a little reflection it is very obvious, 
and appears rational and physiological, that the vig^or and pro- 
ductiveness of a plant depend very much upon the perfect maturity 
and vital condition of the seed from which the plant springs, and 



113 

that no mauui-e or fertility of soil can make a weak plant as vigor- 
ous and productive as a strong one. This is true of every plant 
from a raddish to an oak. Yet seldom is this truth regarded. 

Has it never occurred to the planter to ask himself why there 
is so much difference in the plants of corn in the same hill, all 
treated alike? or, why there is such a difference in the vigor of a 
lot of seedlings of any plant when all are in the same bed or drill 
and under the same conditions? I could state many facts tending 
to show that by careful attention to the perfect maturity of seed the 
productiveness of annual plants can be much imcreased, and that 
perennial plants can be obtained of quicker growth and greater 
hardiness, but it does not seem necessary to do this. Indeed I be- 
lieve the "running out" of the new wheats and other plants in a few 
years after tlieir introduction is caused by the premature gather- 
ing of the crop to avoid the waste of seed; and yet the plant from 
one heavy, well matured grain, would tiller and yield more at 
harvest, than five shrunken kernels with their puny and yellow 
stalks. So, too, of corn. It often rots in the ground, or comes up 
feeble and yellow, and the planter often says in explanation of 
this, '-that the weather is too cold ; the ground is too wet; there is 
too much manure in the hill, etc. On inquiry, I have generally 
found in such instances, that the farmer went through his field be- 
fore harvest to select his seed corn, or if selected at the husking, 
more attention was given to the size of the ear, than to the ripeness 
of grain. One of my neighbors, however, follows the practice of his 
grandfather, and selects for seed only the ears which have limber 
buts to the cobs or ears, though the ears may be small, or mere 
"nubbins." He does not know why these ears are preferred, but 
his corn always ripens, and yields a good crop; and it is evident, 
from the condition of the cob, that the grain is ripe, and receiving 
no further nutriment from the root or leaf. 

I think it would pay well for every farmer to leave a portion of 
his field to stand ungathered until the grain is perfectly ripe, 
even if some shook out; and in the case of corn, not to cut the top 
stalks, but to leave every part of the plant to complete its approp- 
riate function in the perfection of its seed. 

GEORGE HASKELL. 

Ipswich, Mass., July 16. 

It was evident, from the failing fertility of the land in this 



114 

section from which the hay crop had been taken and sold 
for many years, that the land was robbed of some element 
essential to its productiveness. There were then no super- 
phospates or similar compound on the market. Guano, 
which was in lull supply, did not give durable strength to 
the land although it gave a rapid and large growth for one. 
or, at most, for two years. 

No ground bone was then offered for sale as a manure, and 
the only supply of bone I could then obtain w^as from the 
button mill at Chicopee, and from one renderer in Roxbury. 
With the small bone thus obtained, I began to restore my 
grass land, by rotting the bone in the manner herein describ- 
ed, with decided benefit and profit. 

Editors Country Gentleman — The "best possible way" to 
make bone phosphate, which J. M. A. inquires for in your paper of 
the 4th inst., and which you say you and many of your readers de- 
sire to know, is as follows: 

Take one ton of ground bone (the finer ground the better,) an 1 
one-half ox-cart load (I4 of a cord) of good pliable soil, which will 
not break or cake by drying, and which is free from sod and stones, 
no matter how wet it may be when used. Place a layer of the soil and 
a layer of the bone, of about equal thickness, upon each other, (soil 
at the bottom) on the barn floor, or under cover in a shed or out- 
building, leaving a bushel or two of the soil to cover the heap when 
all the rest is put together. The heap will be three or four feet 
wide at the bottom, and about twice as long. In forty-eight hours 
it will be too hot to hold your hand in. Let it remain undisturbed 
until the heap begins to cool, which will be in a week to ten days. 
Tlien "throw over" the heap "by chopping it down" with a shovel 
and moving it "in end," thoroughly mixing the soil and bone. In a 
day or two it will heat again. Let it remain until it cools, or for 
eight or ten days; then throw it over in the same manner again. 
In a few days it will heat again, unless the previous fermentations 
have exhausted all the moisture in tlie soil and bone. Throw over 
each ten days until all the moistuie is thus exhausted and it does 
not ferment any more; then it will be ready for use, without deteri- 
oration, for ten years. 



115 

All that is necessary to make bones operate as a manure is de- 
composition — rotting; and to produce this process the bone only 
needs to be ground or broken fine, a,nd to be subjected to moisture 
in warm weather with some substance that will absorb or retain 
the gases envolved during the process. Soil furnislies the essential 
requisities, and nothing more is needed to make bones an excellent 
and durable manure. 

This is not a theoretical rule, merely. I have used many tons 
prepared in this manner during the last twelve to fifteen years I 
have tried it upon tlie same field, and side by side with the super- 
phosphates of different manufactuiers, and always saw the best 
and most permanent effects from the same weight of bone prepared 
in this manner, a ton of which costs, exclusive of the labor and 
soil, about lialf as much as a ton of superphosphate, 

I do not wish to excite a war with the chemists, but I think their 
theory of the benefit bone derives by treatment with sulphuric 
acid is erroneous. The acid only aids the manurial qualities of the 
bone by the mechanical effect of sub-dividiug it — making it finer. 
Its CHEMICAL effect is no better upon the bone than it would be 
upon green horse-dung, and I would no sooner treat one than the 
other with oil of vitrol, with a view of adding to its chemical 
value as a manure. 

I want to say further, that before treating bones in this manner, I 
tried several methods recommended by the farming newspapers 
without much satisfaction. I mixed half a ton of ground bones 
with twenty bushels of leached ashes, and half a ton with twelve 
bushels of unleached ashes, and the workmen could not open their 
eyes in the barn next morning until the doors and windows had 
been open long enough to let the ammonia out! As soon as I saw 
the effect of this process, I sent for a load or two of spent tan to 
mix with it; and thus saved a part of the ammonia, but the effect 
of this compost was not very striking. 

I next mixed a ton of bone with wet yellow sand — a material 
about half-way between sharp sand and loam. This fermented 
finely, but it smelt so bad, and was so nasty, that I had to pay an 
exhorbitant price to get it applied to the land. It had a good effect 
however. 

I then mixed a ton of bone with a ton of ground plaster. I found 
the plaster was wholly incabable of keeping down the carrou smell, 



116 

or of absorbing the manure given out in the form of gases. Water 
harl to be added to this lieap to support the fermentation, and the 
plaster dried hard and in lamps, and did not seem to participate iu 
the fermentive process as the soil does. This did not have so good 
an effect as the bone and sand ; and none of these compounds were 
equal to that prepared with soil. 

I will also add that the newest bone is the best. The old dry 
bones which are collected after exposure to the weather for years, 
have lost much of their virtue, and will not heat so soon nor so 
much as those which have not lost their gelatine in that manner. 

GEOKGE HASKELL. 

Ipswich, Mass., June 12, 1863. 

Another object was to underdrain a meadow of nine 
acres of level land on which there was a fall of less than 
three feet in 1000, and where the level of the land next be- 
low mine was less than one foot above the level of the water 
at the outlet of the brook at the boundry line. For more 
than thirty years these tile drains, 500 leet long, have need- 
ed no other care or labor, except to remove the silt which 
collects at the bottom of the brook against the outlet of the 
tiles. The drainage is perfect for the production of full crops 
of good English hay. 

Editors Country Gentleman — Autumn is thcbesttirae to put 
in underdrains, and a few remarks from my experience may be a 
help to others. 

There are only two conditions of laud that can be drained wntli 
advantage in this part of the country, wliere hay is a market crop- 
Land too wet or heavy for grain or hoed crops, but firm and dry 
enough for cultivated grasses, yields better returns if kept constant- 
ly in grass. But there are fields which have a low and wet spot — a 
small "run" through it, or a cove or corner— too wet for grain, or to 
be plowed or worked with the other parts of the field, which, by 
drainage, can be brought to a uniform condition for tillage with the 
other parts of the field, and for the same crops and seasons, and 
when drained it usually becomes the most productive portion. 

The other lands which can be drained with profit are the valleys 
— hassocky meadows — through which a slow, sluggish stream runs, 



117 

and often overflows. Such meadows contain all the elements of fer- 
tility, and when freed from water bear the largest crops of the best 
hay at comparatively small cost. If the water in the brook is only 
one foot below the surface of the ground, the land will be firm 
enough to be plowed when drained. Many suppose laud cannot be 
beneficially drained unless there is a fall at the outlet equal to the 
depth of the drain ; but it is not so. Twenty-one years ago I drained 
a part of such a meadow five hundred i'eet long, with a fall in that 
distance of less than two feet, and with water at the outlet of the 
drain ordinarily less than a foot below the surface of the eround- 
The surface soil is a light, black vegetable mould, about a foot deep. 
The subsoil is a tough, firm clay, whic)i had to be broken U]» with a 
pick. The drains were two rods apart, parallel with the brook; the 
fiist one two rods from the brook. The tile were laid two and a 
half to three feet deep, and for the whole length of the drains were 
more than a foot below the surface of the water at the outlet, and 
they have never been obstructed since they were laid. Tiie only 
care or labor has been to remove the mud or silt which the stream 
deposits at the outlet in the spring and autumn. The water is kept 
from the surface just as effectually as if the outlet were above the 
surface of the water, though the water does not drain off so quickly 
in the spring of the year, or after heavy rains. The surface is thus 
freed of water sufficiently for hay-growing and making, except 
when the water in the brook is raised for a few days by transient 
rains. 

This is the only way this land can be drained. An open drain 
could not be kept clear of sediment and water grasses where there 
is so little fall, nor was the fall sufficient to overcome the friction 
of the water in flowing through such grasses. The consequence was 
that with a fall of nearly 2 feet in 500, bj' midsummer the water 
would be still just as near the surface at the upper part of the piece 
as it was at the lower. These drains have remedied this. The ad- 
vantage in putting in the tile so deep is to get rhem out of the way 
of frost and disturbance by teams. 

This piece of land has lain in grass twenty years without manure, 
but the coarse grasses had come in so much last September it was 
plowed and seeded down again to timothy. The operations upon 
the soil — plowing with two yoke of very heavy cattle, harrowing, 
rolling, etc. — have not interfered at all with the operation of the 
drains. 



118 

There is one precaution to be observed in laying- tile in such a 
situation, and that is to lay the tiles about as fast as the drain is 
made ready for them. Inexperience in this matter subjected me to 
much delay and expense in baling out the water fi'om about 2,000 
feet of drain when it was ready for the tile, (a heavy rain storm 
having- nearly filled it,) and clearing out the material of the caved 
in bank. There was no other remedy, the water in the brook at the 
outlet being higher than it was in the drain. Another precaution 
would probably occur to every one, not to onen the drain into the 
ditch or brook until the drain is all complete. 

There may be some meadows that would not beai' a team even 
after being drained, and having a foot of firm soil on the surface. 
But I am sure that there are meadows in the Eastern States now of 
little value, that could be made very productive and valuable by 
the improvement suggested herein ; and some of those apparen*^ly 
irreclaimable could be plowed, as mine was, with a plow, with 
MEADOW share and coulter, and a dial clevis and draft rod, which 
enabled the team to keep on the old sward when plowing. 

GEORGE HASKELL. 

In 1864 the Democrats of this district put me in nomina- 
tion for member of the Legislature. As I had affiliated with 
that party and had been so often elected to office by the Re- 
publican party, 1 issued the following circular to explain my 
position: 
To THE Legal Voters of Ipswich and Hamilton, Fellow 

Citizens: — 

The Democratic voters of this Representative District have 
placed my name before you as their candidate for representative, 
and I owe it to you, who have so often honored me under ditferent 
party auspices, as well as to them and myself, to state the grounds 
of their action and the opinions upon our public affairs in which I 
differ from the present policy of the Republican party, and which 
have led others to desire my return to public duty. I wish to have 
you understaiid my position correctly, and to secure that, I know 1 
must address you under my own name — so great and perverse are 
the misrepresentations of party leaders. Wherein, then, do I differ 
from those with whom I have formerly acted? It is in this: I 
still adhere to the principles announced by the unanimous action 



119 

of the republican members of Congress in Resolutions there adopt- 
ed — "that neither the Federal Government nor the people or 
"governments of the non-slave holding states have a constitutional 
"right to legislate upon, or interfere with, slavery in any of the 
"States of the Union;" and "that the war should be prosecuted 
"solely for the restoration of the rightful authority of the Federal 
"government, and that when that is secured, it ought to cease." 

I Still think the war ought to be prosecuted with all the vigor of 
the government until the rebellious States are willing to return to 
their allegiance to the Constit utou and government established by 
our fathers — and no longer. I would not treat with the rebels upon 
any other basis than their return to tlie union under that constitu- 
tion and government which is as much theirs as ours, nor would I 
ex;ict any other condition of them than loyalty to those. 

But the present policy of the government is to require the people 
of the south to agree to abandon slavery before the President will 
even talk with them about coming back, and to insist that the war 
shall be continued until their right to hold slaves under the con- 
stitution and laws is surrendered — although it is a right which the 
constitution of the nation recognizes and does not permit the Gen- 
eral Government to interfere with, 

I think this policy is revolutionary, impracticable and wrong. 

It is revolutionary. It proposes to change the constitution and 
laws of States, and the personal rights and duties of citizens by 
military power alone, and without any authority to do so under our 
national Constitution. 

It is impracticable. Military orders and proclamations do not 
change the institutions of civil society. They merely sobordinate 
the latter to military exigencies during the rule of military pcwer. 
Overrun the South ever so thoroughly with our armies and issue 
any number of proclamations or military orders for the government 
of the territory; but alter all is over the judiciary and the courts 
must decide upon the rights and duties of the people under settled 
constitutions and laws; and the j-eople there must establish those, 
or they only have the right so to do. And how long must this policy 
be pursued, think ye, to compel them to alter their constitution to 
suit us ? Must we not reduce them to the greatest possible straits 
before they will do so? and what will become of us and ours in 
that long and sorrowful struggle ? I fear if this policy is persisted 



120 

in, the sun of our life-day will go down upon this strife, and we 
shall leave it to an after generation to terminate the unavailing 
conflict, and to reap the full harvest of its bitter fruits, of private 
sorrow and social ruin, of national division, devastation and death- 
Further, I think this policy is wkong in itself. As is well known 
to you I have been an anti-slavery man from mv earliest raaniiood- 
I have labored, voted and prayed for its abolition in a legal and 
constitutional manner when it was a reproach to do so, and when 
most of those who are now so earnest to light for it, were just as ear- 
nestly opposing it with their votes. I cherish my old opinions still- 
I should rejoice to see slavery perish as on« of the results of the 
unavoidable war. But to make it tiie object of the continuance of 
the war — to bring financial confusion and ultimate disaster upon 
every pursuit and grief to every household — to sacrifice and kill 
our fellow countrymen and lay waste our native land for the aboli- 
tion of slavery — cannot be justified by either reason or patriotism, 
humanity or God. 

I have not embraced these opinions hastily nor without mature 
reflection. If they meet the approval of your judgment I shall be 
glad. If not, I trust you will give me credit for holding them in all 
sinceritv and disinterestedness. 

My position as a candidate is sufficiently explained by the annex- 
ed letter which I sent in reply to notice of my nomination. 

Respectfully yours, GEORGE HASKELL. 
Ipswich, Nov. 5, 1864. 

ToTHE Meeting NOW beingheld, etc— Your committee have just 
informed me of my nomination as Representative, etc. 

I wish to thank the meeting for this manifestation of their confi- 
dence and favor, and to say to them that I fear they may be disap- 
pointed ill regard to my views unless I now state them : — I cannot 
accept the nomination without they allow me to do so and to stand 
upon my own platform. I cannot see my way clear to sustain tl)e 
Chicago platform or the nominee of the Convention; but I am op- 
posed still, as [ was two years ago, to that part of the Republican 
party which makes it a condition lor the restoration of the Union 
and peace of the country, that the south should give up or abolish 
slavery, and tliat the war should be continued till that end is ob- 
tained. I cannot therefore sustain that party platform. I am a ware 
that these views leave me nowhere politically. Rut I cannot lielp it. 



121 

. 1 desire to have the meeting review their action after they learn 
my views as herein expressed; and to reverse their action if they 
desire to do so. If after further consideration, the meeting still de- 
sires to use my name, I shall not object to it. Respectfully, 

GEORGE HASKELL. 

Notwithstanding this note ray nomination was insisted 
on, I was defeated of course. I neither desired or expected to 
be elected. Such was the rancour of party feehng during the 
Civil War, that no man could receive the support of the 
party, if he disapproved of any of the measures or policy 
adopted by a few prominent leaders. 

In the spring of 1866 I was elected to the Board of Select- 
men, Assessors and Overseers, a position from which I with- 
drew just twenty years before, but refused to serve more 
than one year — at this time. 

On r_*moving from thi home ofmy friend in 1865,1 returned to 
the hotel for my meals, and furnished a home in the village 
for housekeeping if I should desire to do so at any time, and 
fitted one of the front rooms for a library and study rather 
than an office. Thus situated, I lived in this house, alone, 
taking my meals at the hotel for eighteen years, 

I found this manner of life very agreeable with friends 
calling often without ceremony, and former clients coming 
in to talk over their buisiness vexations, for which I was 
not expected to take any fee, or assume any care or respon- 
sibility in their affairs. 

During this easy life — exempt from official duties and do- 
mestic cares — I spent the most of my time and labor in agri- 
cultural labor and experiments. The papers on these sub- 
jects and on matters of public interest reprinted in this 
work, w^ere nearly all written and published while I was 
living alone, and T now regard this period as the happiest 
portion of my life. 



122 

On the completion of my house on Heartbreak Hill, I re- 
moved thither, and my troublesome life of housekeeping 
with hired help began. 

Several permanent improvements were needed on my land, 
and to them I gave my thought and attention. 

One was to eradicate the bushes on land too steep and 
stonj'^ to be plowed. The result of my efforts in this direc- 
tion were given in the following statement published in the 
Country Gentleman and other papers : 

Editors Country Gentleman — Twenty years ago I bought a 
pasture of good soil, but badly overrun with bushes — roses, black- 
berry, bayberrv and barberry. For several years thereafter, as op- 
portunity occurred during the summer season, the hushes were 
cut, and I had a good opportunity to observe the effect upon their 
life when cut at different times. It was uniformly the case with 
all kinds, that when they were cut in the latter part of August or 
early in September, they were most injured if not killed by the 
proceeding. The roses were nearly all killed by one cutting at 
that season, and the barberry, especially those of large growth and 
which were in fruit, never sent up a sprout from the stump or root. 
The bayberry and blackberry were more difficult to eradicate with 
the scythe, but were then, and are now, kept down better when cut 
late in the summer than at any other time, I am confident the 
tnne mentioned is the best to destroy any plant by cutting up; 
and I think it would be more effectual if done before the foliage 
drops in the autumn, while the plant is growing, and too late for it 
to make a new growth before winter. 

An experiment, however, wliich I made for another purpose, leads 
me to think it may be done later in the autumn. A few years ago 
I hrtd about 200 peach trees, from three to five inches in diameter^ 
which had been left in the seedling rows to fruit, on account of 
their vigor and hardihood, and in the hope that some of them 
would yielJ good fruit. They stood in rich ground, which was 
allowed to svvard over with grass. None of them bore good fruit, 
and I decided to bud them with good varieties. To do this I con- 
cluded to cut them off near the ground, and to bud the shoots that 
would grow up from the stump. They were all, therefore, sawn oft" 
an inch or two from the ground, on the 19th of November, 1870, and 



123 

I expected and desired a thick growth of shoots next spring. But 
nv»t a shoot, sucker, or bud ever started from one of those stumps 
or roots. The destruction was entire and complete with every tree. 
It seems, physiologically, that the same effect should attend the 
same treatment of plants we wish to eradicate. 

GEORGE HASKELL. 
Essex County, Mass., Aug. 5, 1872. 

Soon after the close of the Civil War Congress authorized 
the issue of government bonds for a new loan. 

It was proposed to exempt such bonds from all local 
taxation. 

Such proposed exemption excited much interest among 
men holding other property, especially among owners of 
land. While this question was pending the following article 
was written and published in the Boston Daily Advertiser. 

It led to some discussion in that paper, in which, however, 
I took no part, the weak and ridiculous reasons offered in 
favor of such an exemption, being most ably answered by a 
correspondent unknown to me : 

To THE Editors of the Boston Daijly Advertisee: — 

Why should money thus invested be exempt from taxation, leav- 
ing real estate and other taxafjle property to bear the whole bur- 
den of State, county, town, school and highway taxes? Is there 
any reason or justice in a provision by which taxation is made so 
unequal? 

There is much grumbling and just indignation in the community 
that one man having ten thousand dollars in United States bonds 
is required to pay only a poll tax of two dollars, while several 
of his neighbors whose estates are no larger have to pay more than 
two hundred dollars per annum each for local and municipal 
taxes, and 25 per cont. more for these than they would have to pay 
if the bondholder was not thus exempted. Is there any just ground 
for such an exemption? 

Government in its strait for money and under the uncertainties 
attending the war, offered lenders this exemption and six per cent, 
interest in coin ; and no honest citizen can claim a right for gov- 
ernment to do less than it thus promised. 



124 

But there is now no such stress upon the government. Why then 
does Congress propose to obtain a new loan with this obnoxious 
feature ? 

Simply to get the money at lower interest — to secure a gain to 
the general government at the expense of all tax payers, except 
BONDHOLDERS. And this gain to the government, which inures to 
the benefit of all portions of the country, is obtained by an increas- 
ed tax upon every farm and homestead in New England, where a 
large amount of government bonds is held, and upon every pursuit 
and species of property wliich is taxable under the State laws. 

Judging from what is known about the investment in United 
States bonds in an agricultural portion of the Commonwealth, it is 
believed the investment in these bonds throughout the State is 
quite equal to one-fiftli of the taxable valuation of the State. 

Can Congress think such injustice in legislation and inequality 
in taxation, as the exemption of this large amount from all local 
taxes, can be imposed upon the people, merely to obtain a new loan 
at a low interest and with no urgent necessity for such a measure, 
without exciting great and general dissatisfaction ? 

Congress might very properly prohibit any specific tax upon 
bonds or the imposition of any other rate or tax than that assessed 
upon all other personal estate of the holder. Anything beyond 
such protection is partiality and injustice; and in a new loan under 
present circumstances would injure the party that does it. G. H. 

The Republicans of this Congressional District wilh great 
inconsistency nominated Gen. Butler, an alien to the dis- 
trict and an apostate Democrat, as their candidate for Con- 
gress in 1874. 

During the canvass the following article was w^ritten by 
me and widely circulated in the district. 

Gen. Butler was defeated and Charles P. Thompson, a 
Democrat was elected in this strictly Republican district : 

To THE Editors of the Salem Gazette — The people of this 
Congressional District are invited to vote again for Gen Butler. 
Why should we do so? Surely, if ever a man can forfeit the sup- 
port of his party by his hostiliy to their leading measures, then Gen. 
Butler has given the Republicans of this district the strongest 
ground for opposing his re-election. He has advocated a further 



125 

inflation of the currency by an issue of more greenbacks without 
specie to sustain it; he has constantly, and too sucessfully, attempt- 
ed to defeat the civil service reform, so that he and other members 
of Congress may continue to control the appointments to office, in 
such a manner as to subserve their own advancement; he has sup- 
ported, in Congress and out of it, the infamous Sanborn contracts, 
and is believed to have participated in the fruits of those transactions, 
he has attempted to continue the franking privilege, after the dis- 
closure of the disgraceful abuses which were carried on under it, 
and he originated, supported, and took advantage of the dishonest 
salary grab. A large majority of the Republican voters of this 
district are opposed to the course he has taken upon these ques- 
tions, and he has misrepresented them in all these matters. It has 
been said that his friends, who held positions or jobs by his ap- 
pointment or influence, will not let him withdraw trom the canvass. 
But have not the President and the Republican party been trying 
to deprive Congressmen of this corrupting influence, and do not the 
people desire to have this abuse corrected? Why, then, support a man 
who is desired and pressed forward by those who profit by this 
system of bargain and favoritism ? Why should we vote for a mail 
from Lowell who does not agree with us on any of the important 
political questions of the day, and who is not identified with us 
by birth, residence, or business pursuits ? One, too, who has no 
high personal character, with no achievements of great public ad- 
vantage, no renown as a soldier, no personal qualities of morals or 
manners to command respect or give him influence? He is 
endowed with a glib, ingenious, unscrupnlous and biting tongue, 
but are these enough to satisfy the intelligent voters of this dis- 
trict ? 

The district needs, deserves, and it should have, a representative 
who feels that lie has a personal interest in its welfare and good 
name; and who would perform the duties of the office with equal 
credit to the district and nation. His integrity should be above 
suspicion. He should be familiar with public affairs, and under- 
stand well the pursuits and interests of our people; should be 
sound upon the questions of currency, civil service reform, tariff, 
franking privilege, back pay, etc., and capable of stating his opin- 
ions and their grounds with clearness. If accustomed to address 
public assemblies, so as to do it in an interesting and forcible man- 
ner, so much the better; but this is not indispensable. 



126 

Now we have many bona fide citizens of the district, — indeed 
almost every town has one or more, — possessing all these essential 
qualifications, and free from the bad qualities of Gen. Butler. Why 
cannot we choose one of these citizens? 

In the first place such men will not seek, work and intrigue to 
obtain the noinination, and if nut nominated they will not be voted 
for. In the second place, there are too many seeking the office, 
and planning and scheming to get control of the caucusses and 
thus of the convention. This conduct will offend the friends of all 
the rivals, and disaflect many independent voters who do not feel 
bound to support the nomination of tiaeir party when obtained by 
dramming, and thus forestalling the action of the people. 

In tlie tiiird place, party names will help to divide those who are 
entirely agreed upon all important questions of public policy and 
in opposition to the re-election of Gen. Butler. But for these diffi- 
culties the opponents of Gen. B. might act in concert in the selec- 
tion of a candidate, and if they do this he would be overwhelming- 
ly defeated. 

How can this united action be brought about? We do not attach 
mucli importance to the nomiuation that may be made by the Re- 
publican Convention. The measures taken by the aspirants to 
secure their nomination are just sucn as to absolve even loyal 
partisans from its support. Besides, it seems to be taken for grant- 
ed that neither party will acquiese in the nomination of the adverse 
aspirant, and if there shall be two Republican candidates in the 
field, it seems certain that the issue will be between Gen. B. and a 
Democrat. If Butler should be nominated by that convention, Re- 
publicans can repudiate it on the ground that lie is not a Republi- 
can, in principle or conduct, whatever he may call himself; and if 
any other person obtains that nomination, Butler and his friends 
would undoubtedly bolt. Leaving out of view, therefore, for the 
present, the probable action of the convention, and the desires, am- 
bition, qualifications or "claims" of others to office, cannot all the 
opponents of Gen. B. — those who have felt humiliated at his mer- 
cenary and unscrupulous conduct since he has been in Congress, — 
be united against him at the next election? H. 

In 1867, Augustine Heard, a native of the town, 
although long engaged in trade in China, appHed to me for 
advice and assistance in the establishment of a free Public 



127 

Library in the town, which he thought of erecting. After 
several conferences he bought the land upon which the Lib- 
rary now stands and while considering the form of arrange- 
ment of the building, we called upon Prof. Daniel Tread well, 
of Cambridge, a native of this town, who was one of the 
commissioners for the erection of Gore Hall, the building for 
the Librar3^ at Harvard. 

He informed us that in his will, prepared some years before, 
he had made bequests of land and funds for the erection of 
such a Library in Ipswich, but as Mr. Heard had got the 
start of him. he should change those provisions and make it 
contributing to one established b3' the deed of Mr. Heard. 
He soon after made a codicil to this effect. 

I contributed nothing financially for its establishment. 
Fortunately that was not necessary, as the ample means 
and liberality of the founders, Messrs. Heard and Tread- 
well, furnished all that was necessary. But I spent much 
time, thought and labor upon the undertaking, and as a 
trustee and treasurer for more than twenty-five years, it 
seems proper that this fact should be stated as a part of my 
life work. 

On the opening of the Library for the public use, March, 
1869, I was selected to make an address on the occasion, 
which was as follows : 

Fellow Citizens ; — The traveler who first passes through a 
strange and unexplored country, is impeded by unsurmountable 
obstacles, is turned this way and that, by unforseen obstructions, 
is bewildered by doubts as to the direction he should take, and is 
constantly arrested by unknown objects and dangers, which com- 
pel him to retrace his steps, only to start anew from a point passed 
long before, and to take another direction, in which he may en- 
counter even greater obstacles than those which had intercepeted 
his progress; and thus his lifetime is spent, in unavailing endeav- 
ours to reach a point easily accessible in a short time had the way 



128 

been known ; and he falls by the way leaving no record on the use- 
less paths he has traversed for the aid of subsequent exi^lorers, wlio 
in their efforts to make the same journey, will have to run all the 
hazards of success or failure, which attended him. It would be 
precisely thus, fellow citizens, with every one of us, were we com- 
pelled to commence the journey of our life and to choose which one 
of the various and shifting paths we would take, and follow in our 
course, without any instruction or guidance, from those who have 
traveled life's crooked and perplexing way before us. We need at 
the commencement of life to iiave our way shown to us, in regard 
to the most common labors and most necessary duties. 

Soon, however, our own experience begins to teach us, and to 
teach us as much by our failures as by our success. But all that we 
can individually learn by our own experience, would be wholly in- 
sufficient to furnish the information we need to make our life pros- 
perous or happy, or even comfortable; and if we could know noth- 
intr of what had been learned by others in their experience, our 
own knowledge would be small indeed, and would be acquired so 
late in life as to be of little value or use to ourselves or others. 
Hence arises the necessity of our knowing what the experience of 
others has taught them. But how are we to obtain this knowledge? 
Tradition will not preserve and transmit it, for tlie memory will 
fail and the events and reports of the j)ast will be confused and in- 
distinct, if not obliterated altogether, as the shadows of life gather 
around the head of the oldest and wisest of men, and the tongue 
of the most learned teacher must be hushed and perish, and there 
will be a continual recurrence of times when thei'e will be none to 
remember and tell, what their fatliers have said and done before 
them. Without a record therefore of the knowledge whicli our 
predecessors in life had acquired in long and varied experiences, 
WH all would be left to begin our active life in utter ignorance of 
its best and successful ways; we sliould iiave to seek what we need- 
ed to know for our happiness and success, and for our comfort even, 
by slow, tedious, uncertain and abortive experiments. Hence the 
necessity of books which are the records of the thoughts, experien- 
ces, and the discoveries of other men and former ages; of many and 
various books, that the coming generations of men may learn and 
know all that the experience of the past has taught mankind, for 
books only supply this information; not merely to be learned, but 
to all pursuits, all labors, all duties, wliatever may be the subject of 



129 

inquiry, whether in regard to the operatioas of the mechanic, the 
labors of the husbandman, the speculations of the philosopher, or 
the study of nature, history, science, or art; in all these, books sup- 
ply more Knowledge, than any one man knows or ever can know; 
and each one can find therein the information he needs, in his par- 
ticular vocation or pursuit. But how are books to be had by 
tliose who need them? Every one who reads cannot buy them, for 
it requires many to supply any one individual, with the informa- 
tion he may need, from tima to time durinj? his life. Besides the same 
book will furnish information to a great many individuals, without 
lessening the supply for others, and there is no need therefore, that 
an individual should possess all the books that he may need the use 
of. 

From this you see the desirableness of a public library, in which 
books upon various topics, on all pursuits and callings in life, and 
of general knowledge — books needed to supply all wants, — may be 
placed, where they can be preserved for a long time, and be used by 
large numbers without price. And a community, which does not 
possess this opportunity' for the instruction of the people, and es- 
peciallj'^ for the benefit of the rising generation, will soon fall be- 
hind those wlio have, intelligence, influence and power. 

So obvious is this necessity of public libraries, to enable Massa- 
chusetts to maintain her position, as one of the most learned and 
intelligent communities of the nation, that the legislature, by a 
recent law, has authorized the towns to contribute to the establish- 
ment and support of such libraries to a certain amount proportion- 
ed to their valuations. But so great have been the taxes and inci- 
dental burdens upon the people for the last few years that very few 
towns of the size of this, have established them. Several towns, 
however, have found, among their sons and citizens, men whose 
sympathies and means were not exhausted by the charities and 
taxes of the war, and who have generously established and endow- 
ed such libraries, or aided the town in so doing. By the munificent 
act of one of her sons, this town has been placed in full enjojnnent 
of such a library ; has been released at once and for ages to come 
of all this burden; has the use of this building which will stand for 
ages, in spite of fire and storm, with several thousand volumes of 
the most useful and valuable books in the language, in all depart- 
ments of human knowledge, and many of them of rare excellence 
and high cost, and with paintings, prints, medallions, and other 



130 

means of mental improvement: thus giving to all the people of this 
town, opportunities for that intellectual culture, which adorns 
social intercourse, and which will perfect in maturer years the 
liberal education so long and so freely offered in its public schools, 
to all its children, and which seems to be all that is needed, to 
make life, in our pleasant old town, refined, peaceful and happy. 
The instrument by which this gift is consummated conveys this 
property to three citizens as trustees. 

Tliis beautiful and substantial building,this large collection of books 
most of these paintings, pictures, prints, and other means of intellec- 
tual culture, with a liberal sum for the support of it, without charge or 
expense to this community, all are embraced in this deed of gift, are 
given freely for your use and enjoyment, to instruct the mind, warm 
the emotions, and cultivate the taste. Surely wealth was acquired 
to some purpose, and life spared for beneticient design s which en- 
able their possessor to offer such treasurer and such opportunities, 
to the acceptance of his fellow citizens. I need not speak particu- 
larly of Mr. Heard, as many of you have known him so long; but I 
ought to state, for the benefit of the younger portion of this commu- 
nity, that he was the son of the Hon. John Heard, and was born in 
this town, 1785. Early in life he engaged in trade as a merchant in 
the East Indies and China, and some years later he established 
himself as a merchant in China. He acquired a large property, 
and always gave liberally to deserving objects, but almost always 
in silence and secrecy. As his nephews became of age he gave up 
to them, in a large degree, the interest in his China house, per- 
mitting them to manage its affairs, and share the large business 
and high character which his house had acquired throughout the 
world. 

He was a man of great industry, an early riser, exceedingly regu- 
lar and exact in hi- habits, a rigid disciplinarian, of strong mind, 
and unbending integrity, rather reserved in his manners and con- 
versation, but frank and very intelligent and interesting in conver- 
sa^^ion with his friends. 

His great anxiety for the welfare of this town, for the prosperity 
of the people, and the honor of the nation, was manifested in his 
constant desire to promote the instruction, the education, and tlie 
industry of young men. Very wisely he thought their character 
was a forecast of tlie future of the people, town and nation. 

To aid their advancement he has made this liberal provision, 



131 

placing in your midst, this fountain of knowledge and intellectual 
life, wliere the old as well as the young can find new life and joy 
in its perennial and soul-refreshing waters. 

By this act of Mr. Augustine Heard, these treasures of knowledge, 
these opportunities, are now opened and offered you, fellow citizens. 
They are yours — for the enjoyment, instruction, and elevation, of 
yourself, your descendants and your successors, in all coming time. 

In 1868 I sent an account of my work and observation in 
crossing the grape to the Country Gentleman as follows : 

To THE Editors of the Country Gentleman — Five years ago , 
in your paper of Sept. 3, 1863, you published an account of my ex- 
periments for the production of new varieties of grape. I then 
stated that, in the great number and variety of crosses I had in 
progress, I expected to discover the laws by which changes in the 
fruit and vine were effected by this process. Every year since then 
I have prosecuted and multiplied these experiments by crossing, 
until I can see well enough for my own guidance how to effect a 
desired change in fruit or vine ; but I do not feel willing to hazard a. 
public statement of the rule or law which seems to govern in this 
process, until further and more varied experiments have establish- 
ed its accuracy. 

Some facts in these experiments, however, are so remarkable and 
interesting that they ought to be stated: 

First — That the influence of the native parent is very predomi- 
nant, whether it be the staminate or pistillate. This predominance 
of the native is seen in giving, as it does to most of the seedlings 
foilage and fruit most resembling the native, and ability to with- 
stand the cold of our winter,whether the native parent was the stami- 
nate or pistillate. My seedlings raised from crosses in both direc- 
tions, are never protected in the winter, and not one-tenth of them 
have been killed during the last five winters, and not many were 
much injured during the last winter, which was very severe, and 
which killed the Isabella and the Concord to the ground. 

Second — That seedlings which have most of the characteristics 
of one parent in the vine, will have the characteristics of the same 
parent in the fruit also. For instance, I find tliat vines in foilage 
and tenderness of vine most like tlie foreign, will have clusters and 
fruit most like the foreign parent; and the same rule holds as to 
those resembling the native parent. There is consequently a natur- 



132 

al difficulty in uniting, as we desire, the excellent fruit of one with 
the hardy vine of the other. 

Third — There is a great difference in the affinities of foreign and 
native varieties. For instance, much better vines and fruit are ob- 
tained by crosses with the Fi'ontignacs and Fox, and even with the 
Chasselas and Fox, than can be obtained with the Hamburg and 
Fox; while the crosses with the Hamburg and Pigeon are much 
better than witli Frontignac and Pigeon. Such seedlings, growing 
side by side, show such a great difference that there can be no 
doubt about such affinities, or a peculiar adaption of structure to 
each other in particular varieties. 

Fourth — There is a great difference in the fertility of the progny 
of different crosses. My liybrid seedlings exceed five hundred in 
number, and are the product of twenty eight different crosses. Of • 
these, 133 have bloomed— 46 had infertile flowers, 87 had fertile 
flowers and 56 liava fruit on tliem now. Of several of these crosses, 
every vine wliicli lias bloomed (18 of one cross) has had fertile 
flowers, and of other crosses a very large proportion have been fer- 
tile; but of other crosses every vine whicli has bloomed has had 
infertile flowers, and several have had a large proportion of infer- 
tile flowers. 

Some of the fertile vines have short, curved stamens, and set 
their fruit imperfectly ; others have small berries; some very sour 
fruit; some small clusters; some are subject to black spots and sub- 
sequent blight on the berry ; some are subject to mildew on the 
cluster or on the leaves, or on both. About one-tenth of the whole 
number of seedlings have vigorous and perfectly hardy and healthy 
vines, and several of them have fruit for tlie first time this year. It 
upon any one of these I find all the desired qualities in the fruit, 
it will be a success; but so many requisites are to be united that 
the chances are against it; for we want, in addition to the good 
qualities of the vine, fruit of good quality, good size, large cluster 
and healthy berry. Elarly maturity is desirable, but not indispen- 
sable, while we have such a vast and excellent grape region in the 
South. 

To digress a little: I wish your correspondents at the South 
would give us more information about the vine there. 1 under- 
stand that vine-planting is in progress near Charlotte, N. C, in the 
valley of the Catawba river and the home of the Catawba grape. Is 
it subject to disease there, or what varieties do they find best there? 



133 

Has the foreign vine been tried upon the poor and dry land of the 
Carolinas or Georgia ? What varieties have they there, and are 
those varieties subject to mildew or other disease? Whatever maybe 
the success in obtainin£?- a new and excellent grape by the large 
number of experimenters at the North, I believe all the pure and 
excellent wine ever produced in this country, unadulterated 
with sugar, will be obtained far south of the present vineyard*. 

To recur to our subject: I am still crossing and planting, and fol- 
lowing the teachings of former experiments in what I now cross. I 
have this year seedlings of tliree-fourths foreign "blood," and many 
grapes thus crossed now growing, whicli I hope to live to see fruit 
from. GEORGE HA8KELL. 

Ipswich, Mass., Aug. 15, 1868. 

I Spent the winter of 1869 in the South. My views and 
opinions of matters in that section were contributed from 
time to time and published in the Country Gentleman, and 
suL-h portions of those communications as would probably 
be interesting at this time are inserted in this work : 

Editors OF Country Gentleman— A recent journey through 
the South has convinced me thatthat section presents much greater 
inducements to the emigrant than any part of the West or North- 
west The soil generally is not so good as at the West, but there are 
large sections of the South of very good land, while its climate aftd 
variety of soil afford a much, greater diversity of products, render 
the crops more certain, and diminish largely the necessity for wint- 
er forage ; these, and its nearness to market or to sea transit, and its 
vast water power, scattered all through the region, give to the South 
capabilities and prospects much greater than the West possesses. 

Th'j land in the South varies more in price than it does in quality 
or value. In Maryland good land is held too high. In the Shenan- 
doah Valley all land is held above its value in comparison with 
other sections of Virginia. Around Richmond, within twenty 
miles of the city, the land is offered low— very low; within eight 
miles of the city it can be bought at $10 to $25 per acre, including 
buildings. The buildings are only comfortable, and the estates are 
in bad condition by the operations of the armies. Some of the 
fields are broken and disfigured by breastworks, and on the south 
and east of the city, the fences are gone and most of the wood cut 



134 

off. The soil is not strong, though it seemed to yield fair crops of 
corn, wheat and clover, without much of any manure. This low 
price results mainly from the depression of business and necessi- 
ties of thrf owners — the war evidently havins: left Virginians in the 
worst plight. The cheaper lands of Hanover county are not worth 
the attention of buyers. Beautiful estates, with fertile soil and 
good buildings, on the high banks of the Chickahominy, within ten 
miles of Richmond, can be bought for the same prices. Northern 
men would be liable to chills and fever heie, but not more so than 
on the banks of western rivers, while they could start here with a 
good and well prepared habitation, which has been occupied for 
generations by some i>f the best families in Virginia. Large estates 
of fertile land near the line of the Danville Railroad, and from 30 to 
120 from Richmond, with a soil adapted to the growth of tobacco 
and wheat, about one-third cleared, and the residue in a heavy 
growth of oak and pine, and with ratlier poor buildiugs, can be 
bought at ^Q to $20 per acre. All through this section farmers stated 
that tobacco was their best crop; that it required a great deal of 
attention and labor, but it brought in "a heap of money." They 
send their crops— corn, wheat and tobacco, to Richmond by railroad, 
and go there in person to sell it, or to attend to the sale of it by 
agents there. \s a general thing the buildings on farms and planta- 
tions here are poor — very poor when compared with the homes of 
the north, but they are better than most of the new homes of the 
ftirmers at the west. Here, when the owner was wealthy and spent 
the summer months on his country estate, he seems not to have 
had any pride about his house or made any effort at display. On 
larger estates which the owner made his permanent home, there 
are good and stately mansions, aud for these the price in not much 
higher per acre, but the investment would be larger aud buyers are 
not numerous. 

In North Carolina, soutli of the valley of the Dan river, the soil 
is poorer. In that valley more of the land is cleared, the soil is 
good, and the surface is quite level; the estates are large, but the 
ownerfi appear to lack capital or enterprise, and the land does not 
appear to have had its capabilities tested. Around Greensboro', 
and south as far as Lexington, laud is cheap, and generally poor, 
and the country uninviting. Around Lexington the soil is better, 
and wheat appeared to be the principal crop, and looked finely. In 
travelling tliousands of miles through the Bouth, I did not see so 



135 

much nor so good wheat anywhere else south of Virginia, as near 
Lexington. South of this place the land improves. It is excellent 
near Concord, and is very good in the vicinity of Charlotte and as 
far south as Winnsboro', S. C, It is held at $8 to $20 per acre, ac- 
cording to the quality, extent of it cleared, condition of buildings, 
etc. From the latter place to Columbia, the soil is poorer, being 
gravelly, sandy or broken in surface At Winnsboro' and from 
that place southward, plowing for cotton was in progress and 
peaches were in bloom on the 24th of February. That town was 
burnt by Sherman's army and the ruins still remain; and almost 
every farm-house, between that place and Chester, was burnt on 
their march, the chimneys of which were seen standing in beauti- 
ful groves all along the route. The strategetical necessity, or ad- 
vantage even, of this destruction of isolated farmers' houses is be- 
yond the ken of a civilian. 

South of Columbia, on the Ridge road to Edgefield Court-House, 
the country is delightful. It is high above miasma, the water- 
shed between the Kdisto and Saluda rivers. The land is level or 
slightly rolling, much of it cleared, with a fertile soil, and with an 
atmosphere that is "meat and drink." In these respects it present- 
ed the most desirable situation for an annual home that I saw in 
all my journey. Tbe railroad from Columbia to Augusta, just 
completed, and which is an important link in the line from the 
north to south-west, has opened several depots on this route. I do 
not know the price of land in this section. It is generally held in 
large estates, many of the cotton fields, which are level and very 
large, appear to have been unplanted for several years ; and I think 
will be for years to come unless they are sold to men who will 
work them under new methods of labor, or unless the scattered 
negroes can be induced to leave the towns and resume their labor 
in the rural districts, which they now seem unwilling to do. 

Ipswich, Mass. GEORGE HASKELL. 

To THE EDITOKS of THE COUNTRY GENTLEMAN: 

Near Augusta, Ga., there is much excellent land on the "high 
bottoms." The hills and high lands west of the city are sandy and 
poor. Most of the farming land in this vicinity can be bought at 
fair prices— some of the best of it, within one mile of the city, for $75 
per acre ; and from that the prices range down to $15 per acre, ac- 
cording to the quality, buildings and distance from the city. 



136 

Goinjr south from Augusta to Sav-annah, the soil is good, but 
much of it uncleared, until we leave the valley of the Savannah 
and outer Burke county. Much of the soil in this county is good 
red-clay land, and rolling, and no evident causes of disease were 
seen ; but an old resident ot tlie county said he had known every 
part of it for twenty years — that much of the soil was good and the 
phinters wealthy, but if there was a healthy spot in the county he 
had never found it. Tu the country south of Burke, and between 
the Savannah and Ogeechee rivers, I saw some fine cattle and more 
neat stock than was seen any where else south of Pennsylvania. For 
the successful raiising of stock and production of beef, they need 
here, and through the South, a grass or perennial forage plant 
adapted to their soil and climate, They also need more effectual 
protection from thieving negroes, as it is almost impossible to pre- 
serve domestic animals lu the presentcoudition of things. 

Below Burke, on the line of the railroad, the countrj^ is level, 
mostly wooded, and much of it subjeet to overflow from the Ogee- 
chee. The soil is generally sandy, but there are large thacts of 
strong oak land. That are but few settlements or villages, but 
these look pleasant in mid-winter, with their na'ive evergreens and 
peach and red-bud in full bloom. But for the prevalence of mia?- 
ma, it would be a paradise in the summer. This pestilence renders 
the tide-water section of Georgia of little agricultural value, ex- 
cept the rice fields, and I doubt if they are ever cultivated much by 
voluntary labor. In the winter this region is much more agreeable 
to the invalid or the healthy, than Florida. The atmosphere here 
is dryer and more bland; it has neither the moisture nor the raw- 
ness which the Atlantic and St. John's river impart to the air in 
Florida. There is also a better soil here to furnish a surrounding 
vegetation of beauty and life-giving oxygen. If Fashion would 
only light and hold her court here, sojourners would soon find 
winter more comrorti.ble here than in the cold and bleakness of 
AiUen or in the variability and vapors of P'lorida. 

I do not desire to say much about Florida, except to advise the 
agriculturist not to go there. Large portions of the State (probably 
nine-tenths) are sandy wastes. Oranges, sugar and cotton are the 
only GKNEKAL, cropj grown there, (and oranges and sugar aro 
grown with certainty only in the southern parts of it,) and neither 
of the three can be grown without manure, except upon the rich 
hummock land; and none of this land is exempt from congestive 



137 

chills aud billious fever. This ou^ht to settle the matter, but there 
are other reasons. These hummocks constitute but a small part of 
the State, and it is a work of {^-reat )abor and expense to clear them ; 
and when cleared and ready for the plow, they are neither given 
away nor sold for a song. To succeed with these crops, the farmer 
would expect to have to attend to them in person through the sum- 
mer, and very few men from the north could endure that climate 
through the whole year. Besides, cotton can be grown in a health- 
ier region just as well, and with more profit, except Sea Island cot- 
ton; and the most extensive planters of that, in Alachua County, 
are abandoning it, finding the short staple more profitable even at 
the lower price. The Sea Island cotton has to be planted farther 
apart, matures less bolls, yields less to the acre, and much less lint to 
the seed cotton — rather less than one-fifth. Oranges there are large 
and good, but they are a precarious crop; must be sold at once, for 
they cannot be kept long, and fluctuate much in price — they having 
been sold during the last month for 15 cents per dozen in Boston, 
while $1 per dozen was asked for them in Jacksonville. As for 
sugar, if a northern farmer wishes to engage in sugar planting, he 
had better go to Louisiana, where he will find a more suitable soil 
and climate, a nearer market, and will run no greater risk of health 
or life. 

On the sea-board route through North Carolina the soil is not so 
poor as generally described. Much of the region is sandy, but 
there are large tracts of excellent land were they cleared of wood 
and freed from water. There is also much excellent timber — cu- 
cumber and pine — by the side of the railroad, within fifty miles of 
navigation at Wilmington, which ought to be worth much more 
than would probably be asked for the land. The pines were not 
large, but very tali and straight and suitable for spars. 

The tide-water region of South Carolina is much better than the 
similar regions of North Carolina and Georgia. Much ot it below 
Sumpterville is excellent. There are tracts there of thousands of 
acres of rolling land, with a strong soil, on which a vigorous growth 
of oak succeeds, and in some instances supplants the pine. There 
are also large cotton fields fertile and very level, now neglected, 
however, and overrun with sedge. Around Sumpterville the 
country is pleasant and very productive of cotton. Beyond Kings- 
ville the land was more uneven — more of it cleared and rather 
ligtiter in color and and texture, yet good cotton land, and I should 



138 

think more healthy, especially near Orangeburgh. 

On the whole, it may be said of this tide-water region, from the 
Potomac to St. Marys, that it contains an immense area of land of 
great agricultural produc<^iveness and value, if it were only worked 
b^'' a race that could endure the climate and that would persist in 
their labor. The white race can never be healthy there — certainly 
not until the forests and stagnant waters are removed; and the 
black race cannot be induced to labor for the future or beyond its 
immediate necessities. -l\nd unless the mongol or yellow race can 
be located there, with their persistent industry and constitutional 
hardihood against all climatic influences, much of this region 
seems doomed to remain a pestilential wilderness. 

Ipswich Mass. GEORGE HASKELL. 

To THE Editors of the Country Gentleman: 

A careful observer, who trjivels through the South in its present 
condition, sees at once that uniform prosperity there would be se- 
cured by a greater diversity of pursuits, and that agricultural in- 
dustry would be more remunerative in the long run by cultivating 
a greater variety of products. Cotton, however, is king there j'et — 
there is no mistake about that — in both an agricultural and 
commercial aspect. The high price obtained for the last crop has 
encouraged planters to prepare for extensive planting this season, 
and the profits are therefore likely to be smaller, on a much larger 
outlay and crop. They would be safer to diversify their products, 
and yet they declare they want no better crop than cotton. It cer- 
tainly is an easy crop to raise, handle and sell in large quantities, 
nor does it seem to be exhausting to the land. Generally the land 
is planted alternately in corn and cotton. It is plowed quite shal- 
low for cotton — hardly ever with more than one mule or horse for 
a team, and women as well as men for plowmen, who always guide 
the team also. The season for this operation extends tiirough 
several weeks, and one hand can plow a large field. 

The cotton seed of one year, after having been "sweat" to destroy 
its vitality, is returned to tlie soil as manure on the corn crop the 
next year, so that the cotton crop taKes nothing from the land but 
the lint, and as that is almost pure carbon, the drain upon the fer- 
tility of the laud must be small. 

Since freeing the blacks, however, land has had less productive 
value, and labor has a value appreciable in money; and planters 



139 

find that their expenditure on the crop gives a better return when 
a part of it is invested in manure than v lien wholly 
paid for labor in obtaining the same crop from more acres. 
Consequently guano, superphosphates and commercial fertilizers 
are used in very large quantities. Indeed, train after train from the 
coast arrives at Augusta daily, a large part of the burden of which 
consists of such manures. The yield of cotton per hand is from 3 
to 10 bales — or from 12 to 14 cvvt. — according to the season, soil and 
their industry, with a little extra help in picking time. 1 found 
that the different modes of employing freedmeu yielded very dif- 
ferent results. Employing them for wages in money had been dis- 
asterous to both freedmen and planter. One who gave men $125 
per season, and women (field hands) $65 to $80, lost $3000 in 1867 and 
did not work his plantation at all in 1868. In addition to these 
wages, the freedmen had the use of cabins, a potato and garden 
patch, and the opportunity to keep pigs and fowls. They desired 
to draw all their wages before the crop was half grown, and no 
urging or encouragement could make them anything but the mean- 
est eye-servants. Others have given one-third the crop — the owner 
finding teams, tools and seed, and advancing supplies on account 
as the laborers needed. Only a few laborers under this mode are 
patient enough to wait for their full pay until the crop is sold, or 
even harvested; most of them would eat up their share long before 
harvest if they could get it, and if they got it, or if by unfavorable 
weather the prospect of a suitable remuneration was destroyed or 
dimmed, they were easily disheartened and abandoned the crop 
altogether. Some, however, who were industrious and persevering 
have done very well under this jjlan of sharing the crop. Another 
and a better plan had been adopted by some planters, and that was 
tD accept a certain amount of lint cotton for each field hand that 
worked the laud, the owner finding nothing but the cabins, 
garden patch and cotton fields; hands to assist in picking were not 
counted. This plan is less troublesome to the owner ; it attracts the 
most capable, shrewd and industrious of the freedmen; indeed it is 
really open to those only wlio have means or credit enough to pro- 
vide the team, tools, supplies, etc. The freedmen on one plantation 
in Florida, who delivered to the owner 200 lbs. of lint cotton for 
each farm hand, under such agreement, made quite a little fortune 
for themselves by the amount they raised in excess of that "toll" 
last year. The share of the owner must have been less than one- 



140 

eighth, but it was so much net. 

I sought every opportunity to gather information as to the prac- 
ticability of raising in the South two articles of food for which I 
believe that region to be peculiarly m ell adapted by both soil and 
climate, i. e., beef and wine. 

It is really a cause of astonishment that in that mild climate, and 
with a soil better than tliat of New England, all the unplowed land 
is so bare and brown in the winter months. There is nothing on 
such land for the food of stock but brush, dry sedge, and a dry and 
wiry straw of Lhe native grass; while here in Massachusetts our 
grass land would furnish, all through our severe winters, a good 
bite of green grass among the old fog, if we would only let our ani- 
mals have it. 

In the South cattle need no housing, nor would they need any 
other food all the year round, if that section had a grass or forage 
plant that would grow under the same conditions there as the cul- 
tivated grasses grow under here. Such a plant would enable them 
to make a large income, from land now useless, in the production 
of beef. There is enough of such land there, not used or needed for 
other crops, to feed millions of head of cattle, and beef could be 
easily and cheaply produced there in unlimited quantities, could 
the land be covered with perennial herbage. I inquired all the way 
for the Lespedeza, a plant about which so much has been said late- 
ly, but I could not find it, nor did I meet an individual who was 
sure he had ever seen it, though a few described plants which they 
had seen and which they supposed to be the one I inquired for. A 
perennial forage plant adanted to their soil and climate, is the first 
great necessity of that section. The discovery and introduction of 
such a plant would be of incalculable benefit to the South and the 
nation. And if the Agricultural Department at Washington would 
give its attention to matters of this nature, instead of spending its 
means and labors in propagating roses and geraniums for distri- 
bution among the members of Congress, it would really be of some 
service to the agricultural interests of the nation. 

Ipswich, Mass. GEORGE HASKELL. 

To THE Editors of the Country Gentleman: 

At every resting place in my journey, I made it a point to inquire 
in regard to experiments or success in grape growing; and was sur- 
prised to find how little was known or done about it, and how 



141 

rarely they were grown for table or family use. And yet large 
tracts of land in every southern State appeared to be adapted to 
the vine. In several parts of Maryland and especially just north 
of Beltsville, and also through the upper portion of the southern 
States, I found locations and soils where tlie vigorous and obtru- 
sive gi-osvth of the wild raspberry and high blackberry give the 
surest indications of a soil adapted to the vine. But I could not 
learn of any extensive or thorough experiment in its cultivation, 
except at a very few points, and these did not include the foreign 
or new native varieties. 

I do not see why the foreign vine will not grow in the hiuh, dry 
and sandy land south and west of Augusta, (jreorgia, as well as it 
does in tlie sandy plains in tiie south of Spain. Tliere is no condi- 
tion tliere to favor mildew. The summer is long enough to ripeji 
the fruit, and the winter is not cold enough to kill the vine. If any 
otlier obstacle to us culture exists, it is unknown to me. A few 
vineyards, however, liave been planted in the South; the largest 
which I saw was that of Mr. Derby at Aiken, S.C. Most of the fruit 
is shijiped to New York, but some wine is made. The Isabella and 
Scuppei-nong are the principal varieties, and I understand that the 
foreign varieties had not been thoroughly tried tliere. At MuUins' 
Station, between Wilmington and Florence, we passed the vineyard 
of Dr. Vamphill. It is in a locality very favorable for mildew, sur- 
rounded by a wooded country, and with a moist, slate -colored bog 
soil. His wine house is close to the station, and a lad offered his 
wine for sale in the cars for a dollar a bottle — a dozen or more of 
bottles were thus purchased, some of the Scu[)peruong and some of 
the Concord. I supposed from this th^it these were the varieties 
planted in tiiis vineyard, and certainly the soil and locality were 
congenial to the Fox grape. A cai-ef ul, repeated and jolly testing 
of the two wines, and of the various bottles to see if they were of 
uniform quality, and perhaps to get another taste, led to tlie unani- 
mous decision that the Concord was the best. This was a mixed 
company — six or eight from Massachusetts, about as many from 
New York and Pennsylvania, a few Southeners and two Germans, 
and it ought to be accepted, I think, that, if the two grapes were 
treated alike, the Concord makes the best wine. I did not call the 
wine good except under the circumstances — it was "Hobson's 
choice" to a thirsty man. There was evidently a flavor of sugar 
which I think had been added to both, though the distinctive flavor 



142 

and harshness of the grape was quite too predominant. 
I found but little effort or interest in the experimental culture ol 
the grape among the officials who run the machinery of the Agri- 
cultural Department at Washington. Several propagating houses 
were in full blast in mid-winttn*, at great expense, filled with ger- 
aniums, roses, verbenas, etc, etc., and I did not see a grape in one of 
them. Large plans have been laid for planting out every variety 
of well known forest trees; but there was little room or opportunity 
for testing new varieties of grapes. Few vines are grown under the 
attentive care of the Department, and no iuformation for tlie pub- 
lic in this matter can be expected from tliat quarter. 

At Riclimond there is a wine comi>aiiy, and several very intelli- 
gent and zealous men engaged in the introducing and extending 
the culture of the grape. Some quite good wine is made there from 
Norton's Virginia, but there are some objections to that variety, it 
havinir a small cluster and not being very productive. The Isabella 
and Catawba botli blight or mildew there, and the Concord was 
esteemed the best grape, all tilings considered. The fruit is much 
better than at the North, and requires their long summer to mature 
in. A similar opinion was expressed in Florida — that the Concord 
was the best grape there, because it was the only one that could be 
relied upon. All through the South, however, the people speak of 
the Scuppernong as a good grape. Yet they all say that it has a 
hard and sour pulp; that it has a fox or musky flavor; that it has 
but few berries in a cluster and they drop easily when ripe, and 
that it is found through all the swamps of the South. It is clear 
that the Scuppernong thus spoken of, is not the same vine — the 
progeny of a particular plant; but that all through the South they 
call the amber colored wild grape the Scuppernong. It is better or 
more pleasant than tlie black varieties of the same grape, and is 
therefore called good by the people there who know of none better. 

I am certain that this name is applied to a great number of grapes 
of similar color and character, and I think they are only a soutli- 
ern variety or modification of the Fox, although the wood difEers 
considerably from that species of the north. It has no quiilities to 
recommend it for general culture; and tlie grape that will meet the 
requirements of cultivators, either for fruit or wine, and that will 
succeed in thas genial climate, will yet be obtained or found. The 
agricultural emigrants from the north, who have cultivated a 
few vines successfully under the many obstacles which exist in 



143 

their old home, and who are now moving south, will soon test the 
practicability of yfrowiug them in tliat more congenial soil and 
climate, and will find or originate varieties which will succeed 
there, and which will supply us of the north, before many years, 
with a fruit and wine better and cheaper than there can ever be 
produced in the Northern States. 

In furnishing these articles for your paper, my only object is to 
give the reader some of the information I gathered in this journey' 
I have no desire to advance the interests of one place or to decry 
another. The facts I state are fa.cts — the opinions are mere 
opinions, and are subject to criticism. I shall not therefore offer 
any reply to the communication of A. F. S. except to say; that I 
have not misrepresented Florida, either iffuorantly or willfully. I 
advised the agriculturist not to go to Florida: He says: "To any 
one wishing tj engage wholly in agricultural pursuits, there are 
many sections presenting greater inducements." In this conclusion 
we agree, and the readers of your paper have our concurrent opin- 
ion in the matter for what it is worth. He dissents from my rea- 
sons, but as he agrees with me in the conclusions at which I arriv- 
ed, I shall not occupy your valuable space with any uunecessary 
criticism or response. GEORGE HASKELL, 

Ipswich, Mass., 1869. 

After my return from the South in 1869, I concluded my 
life would be most comfortable in the region of my birth, 
and I went to work renewedly on my seedling grapes and 
for the improvement of my land, and in writing many com- 
munications to the papers on agricultural and other topics 
of general interest, many of which appear in this work, 

I served in the legislature in 1876, and have held no simi- 
lar public position since. 

In 1871 I furnished the Country Gentleman with an ac- 
count of the influence each species of the grape had had up- 
on the other when crossed, so far as then observed, as fol- 
lows : 

Editors Country Gentleman — You have published a state- 
ment of some of the results of crossing the grape by Dr. Wylie of 
South Carolina, and perhaps you will be pleased to hear of some of 



144 

the strange effects of that process which I have observed in my ex- 
periments. 

I have crossed the Pigeon with Black Hamburg, White Frontig- 
nan and Grizzley Frontignau, and hundreds of such hybrids have 
borne fruit, and all such fruit is black ; not one vine having a white 
or even a red or puri)le berry, and not one of them is good for any- 
thing. The vines are very liardy and healthy; the fruit on some is 
larger and rather better than the Pigeon, and with large and hand- 
some clusters, but is too sour and austere to be of any value. And 
the result has been nearly the same whether the native were used 
as the staminate or pistillate parent. 

I have never been able to obtain a white hybrid. I have crossed 
the White Frontignan and White Chasselas with a White Fox of 
tills vicinity, which never acquires a blush, but all the progeny of 
their crosses have been light amber or red — none white or black. 

Several crosses, in botli directions, with these two white foreign 
grapes, and selected varieties of Amber Fox. have shown the same 
result — not one white, and only one black grape among nearly a 
hundred that have borue fruit. A few are light amber, but most 
are of a rich, deep red. Of the crosses with the Black Hamburg 
and Black Fox, all have borne black fruit; while the crosses with 
that foreign gra&e and the Amber Fox have all borne red or purple 
fruit, both when the Hamburg was the staminate and when the 
pistillate parent. 

The best fruits of the Pigeon crosses have been obtained with 
Hamburg, and the best of Fox crosses have been with the White 
Frontignan. Not one of the White Chasselas and Fox crosses has 
much sweetness or flavor. 

The effect of crosses upon the fertility of the offspring, has been 
most marked and surprising. Of one cross, twenty-one have bloom- 
ed and every <)ne has been fertile, having perfect flowers; of another, 
ten have bloomed and are all fertile; and of another, twenty-seven 
have bloomed, and twenty-one are fertile and six infertile ; while of 
other crosses, eleven of one cross have bloomed, and nine were in- 
fertile and only two fertile ; and of another, sixteen have bloomed — 
ten infertile and six fertile. Of several crosses, having a less num- 
ber of vines, all are fertile, but of no one cross have all been infertile. 
The tendency of crossing is thus seen to insure a larger proi)ortion 
of fertile plants among the seedlings, for the pure native seed rarely 
yields half-fertile plants. 



14-5 



I have had better success in crossing some varieties than -vith 
others, but have always been able to obtain some seedlings from 
every cross between the foreign and native; but I have not been so 
successful when I have attempted to use the half-bloods for one 
parent In several instances, though the half-blood was fertile of 
itself, I bave failed to impregnate another half-blood or native, 
while I have succeeded with the same half-blood upon the foreign. 
I am not ready to propound any theory in explanation of these 
facts. The facts themselves perplex me some, but I think I see the 
GENERAL influence of each parent and each species upon the otlier, 
to guide me in future crossings in seeking particular results. My 
crosses now number flfty-seven, and are so mixed up in blood-half- 
bloods with each other and with the foreign and with the native- 
that I expect the developments of a few years will compensate me 
for my care and labor. 

I think there is a law in this, as in every other process of nature 
and that if that law can be discovered, this process will be subser- 
vient to the will and direction of man, and will contribute essen- 
tially to the improvement of the productions of the soil, and thus 

to the enjoyment and comfort of "^a"'^*'^^- ,^,^^^_ r^ .^jzv'l T 
Essex (^o., Mass., Dec. 19, 1871. GEORGE HAbKELL. 

In 1875, after laboring for fifteen years in crossing the 
vine, I found that many of my hybrids, that were most prom- 
ising in vine, would not ripen their fruit here in the open air. 
To ascertain the quality of the fruit oi such vines, I built 
anothergrape house,100 feet long. 15 feet wide.of double span 
and planted such vines six feet apart under the sashes, on 
each side, several of which have borne and are still bearing 
quite good grapes for home use, but they will not succeed m 
the open air, being subject to mildew. Most of these hy- 
brids, however, bore undesirable fruit, even when well 
ripened. 

Expecting this result, and not being wiUing to lose the use 
of the house altogether while this trial was pending, I plant- 
ed foreign vines of good varieties midway between these hy- 
brids, intending to inarch these latter upon the worthless 
hybrids. This was done with good success, and although 



146 

most of these foreign vines have died at the root, the part 
of the same vine above the point of union is still alive and 
productive. I found it essential in this form of engrafting 
as well as that by the cleft method to bind the stock and 
scion together very firmly, especially at the lower end of the 
scion, for it is at that point that the union of the 
wood of the stock and scion takes place, and not at the 
crown of the stock, as with other fruits. 

In cleft grafting 1 found it necessary to do it close to the 
root, IN THE WOOD of the stock, and not in the root. 

Having tried the quality by ripening them in a climate 
like that of 40*^ b^' growing under glass, in 1877 
I pubHshed a pamphlet giving an account of my 
efforts to find or obtain a better grape and containing an 
account of my experiments in crossing the foreign and native 
species, and a description of forty varieties thus obtained, 
giving their parentage, size, form, color and quantities. 

Several of these varieties were found to yield really excel- 
lent fruit, but were so subject to mildew that they were not 
worthy of preservation or propagation ; others, although 
healthy and hardy in vine, bore fruit of no value. A few of 
the best varieties have been preserved and are grown under 
glass. 

They were sent in numbers all over the country. None of 
them had such decideti excellencies as to commend them for 
general cultivation, although many of them are quite as 
good, and some, perhaps, better, than most of those which 
have been widely boomed on the public during the last 
twenty years, but I had neither the desire nor the qualifica- 
tions for such a content to impose upon the public. 

So far as immediate or present results are considered, I 
regard these efforts as a failure. But I have learnt much of 
the influence of different species upon each other under this 
process. 



147 

I have found a great difference in the power or habit of in- 
dividual vines of the same cross to transmit a valuable 
quality it may possess to its progeny. Some hybrids of eith- 
er sex will give to its progeny a peculiar quality, good or 
bad, generally, if not with constant uniformity, while in 
other instances the trait of the offspring will be diversified in 
almost every individual, 

This is very strongly marked when different species are 
crossed ; for instance one or a few vines of a cross will im- 
part its quality of healthiness and hardihood to its proge- 
ny with decided constancy, while others of the same cross, 
and equally as good will not produce one hardy vine among 
a large number of its seedlings. 

There are serious difficulties to be overcome: 

First— But a small part of the high grade hybrids will be 
entirely free from mildew and no others should be employed. 

Second — But few among many such healthy hybrids have 
the power or habit of transmitting that continuous exemp- 
tion from mildew : many such hybrids, entireh^ free from 
mildew fail to yield healthy progney, especially when cross- 
ed again with foreign. 

Third — The great length of time required to conduct such 
a course of breeding of the two species, five years, and 
perhaps more must pass before the result of each successive 
cross can be ascertained, and the life of one individual is 
hardly sufficient to complete the work. 

By patient, skillful and persistent labor I have no doubt 
the delicious grapes of the old world can be naturalized to 
our soil and climate so that new varieties adapted to the 
various sections can be grown in every part of our 
country. 

I think this knowledge, and selection of parents under its 
guidance, will enable me hereafter to obtain such a grape or 
grapes as this country needs. 



148 

The need of such grapes and the probability of obtaining 
such by this process, and the slow and careful observation 
and labor by me to obtain it, was stated in the following 
article from the Country Gentleman : 

Ei>iTORS Country Gentleman — I suppose there is uo society 
or body of men in this country more competent than the Western 
New York Horticultural Society, to decide upon the merits of the 
grapes now in cultivation in the country; and it appears from the 
discussion in that society, published in your paper last winter, that 
its members did not agree that any one grape, except the Concord, 
could be regarded as a good grape to grow for the market, though 
no objection was made to the suggestion of one member, that the 
Catawba vine did well, but its fruit did not ripen; yet it sold well, 
even when unripe. 

It was certainly discouraging to be told that we could have noth- 
ing better than Concords or unripe Catawbas! But in the report 
of J. S. Patterson, in your paper of March 6th, we are told that 
these tv. o select varieties are good for nothing — really worse than 
none — on the lake shore, as they were subject to rot and mildew, 
and communicated these diseases to other and healthier varieties 
of the grape. Many millions of dollars are sent abroad every year 
to pay tor the products of the vines imported for our use. Our 
country is capable, both in its soil and climate, of yielding the 
most abundant crops of fruit and wine, if only varieties of 
grapes could be obtained of good quality, and that could resist the 
attacks of fungoid enemies as well as our wild native vines will 
stand them. 

Under these conditions, it is not strange that our national gov- 
ernment has done so little to obtain such desirable varieties? It 
may have spent a few hundred dollars for new varieties, and have 
sent them to different parts of the country, to individuals named 
by Memters of Congress, (who have probably received, as the 
donors, some active support at the elections), rather than to zeal- 
ous horticulturists, and nothing is ever heard of the vine or fruit. 
It may be that none of the varieties thus purchased proved worthy 
of propagation and general distribution; but if only one of them 
were found desirable in any part of the country, it would be a long 
time, under this method, before the public would hear of it. 

J t may be asked what the government could have done more. \ 



149 

answer, much ; it could nave started upon a systematic course of 
planting for the production of new varieties. It ought to be borne 
in mind that the choice grapes we now have (under glass), have 
been selected from chance seedlings produced in various countries 
of Europe and Asia during a period of more than four thousand 
years, while many millions of seedlings inferior to these have been 
allowed to perish. If tiie people of our country could afford to wait 
for that long time, possibly there might be found some accidental 
seedlings of our native species as good as those selected by the 
ancient Persians; but in the meantime, more than one hundred 
generations of mankind \"ould have made their journey on the 
earth without the comfort or enjoyment of such a fruit. 

tSurely, the nation ought not to wait so long for doubtful success^ 
when there is a shoi ter und more certain way to accomplish the 
desired end, I think that way is by planting the seed by mil- 
lions, and crossing, and especially by crossing the native species 
with the foreign. At one time it was seriously stated that it was 
not possible to cross these species, but no one can doubt it now. 
The fruits produced by Dr. Wylie. my neighbor Rogers, Mr. Moore 
and others, sliow conclusively that it has been done. I will say 
nothing now of iny own labors in this matter, except to tell your 
readers that more tlian twenty years ago, in August, 1863, j'ou pub- 
lished an account of my experiments and expectations in crossing 
grapes, and that every year since that time I have planted the 
seeds of new crosses, and luad new hyl rids coming into fruit. The 
result of all this labor will be ascertained in the future. 

It may be true that not one of the hybrids yet produced has all 
the qualities of vine and fruit that we desire or need. But certain 
it is that amona' these hybrids we get some perfectly healthy and 
hardy vines, and some vines yielding excellent fruit; so far, I have 
never seen these desirable qualities of fruit and vine united in the 
same plant. I have no doubt, however, that such a union of tiiese 
desirable qualities can be obtained by continual re-crossing, if done 
with proper intelligence in selecting the vines to be thus 
used. 

Such work requires time, and many years, if several successive 
re-crossings are undertaken. A few of tlie seedlings will bloom in 
the third year, but generally not until the fifth or sixth year, aud 
some not until the tenth year, or even later. And then at least 
one-half are found to be infertile, and therefore worthless; and no 



150 

opinion can be safely formed of those that bear until three or four 
years later, as the fruit improves much in quality, earliness and 
size for several years— the berries and clusters often being' four times 
as larjife in the fifth year as they were in the first. Those that are 
tender or subject to disease, will generally die during- this period, 
and perhaps not one of those that survive will be good enough in 
quality to save. 

It thus takes eight to ten years to ascertain the effect to each 
cross, and if several re-crossings are to be made, an ordinary life- 
time is sufficient to accomplish it. If, however, one single vine, 
having all the desired qualities, should be obtained a century 
sooner than it would otherwise have been, it would be Mell worth 
all the labor and all the cost. (lEORGE HAHKELL. 

Ipswich, Mass., Aug. 26, 1884. 

In 1879 I built a barn on the south side of the road to the 
beach, on the place of one burnt a year before. 

In 1882 I built the house in which I live, nearly opposite 
the barn, on that legendar^^ spot — "Heartbreak Hill." Dur- 
ing this 3'ear my e3'esight failed, from some cause which the 
Occulists could not discover or explain, and for which they 
could not give me any relief, except by the use of lenses of 
the greatest power— 1^4 inch 30 diopti-ics, and I am still un- 
able to read or write, except by the use of such aid for a 
short time, at intervals. 

In 1883 the last article which I contributed to the 
Country Gentleman on the subject of crossing the grape 
for the production of the desired variety was published, and 
as it may be useful to others who arc engaged in similar ex- 
periments, I think it worth while to insert here : 

Editors Country Gentleman— In September, im:i, you pub- 
lished an account of my experiments in crossing the grape, and 
two or three times since then I have sent to you an account of my 
efforts. I have not said a word through your columns about my 
grapes for several years past, for various reasons; principally, be- 
cause I feared you would think I was seeking thus to advertise 
them. I also thought your readers would suspect that I was thus 
seeking notoriety rather than to give desired information. Indeed, 



151 

the public have been so much imposed upon by uurserymeu during 
the last ten years, with worthless and untried plants, that I have 
been almost ashamed to speak of my vines, or offer them for sale, 
lest I should be suspected of repeating^ the offence. But with my 
knowledge of the matter, obtained by careful and constant obser- 
vation for many years, it would be wrong — morally wrong — for me 
to permit the statements of Mr. Anderson, on page 635, to pass» 
without contradiction ; for, if what he says is correct, we, who have 
been crossing and recommending hybrids, are very stupid or very 
knavisli. 

He states that "not a single variety that is known to be related 
in any degree to a foreign kind has ever succeeded in this climate;" 
and he makes this statement, probably, without having tried or 
seen one-half of the hybrids now growing in the country. If by 
this statement he means to saj' that no sucli vine will endure our 
climate, the s*^atement is wholly unfounded. It is of very little 
consequence what Mr. Longwortii or any one else said twenty 
years ago about the theory of this process. The possibility of 
crossing was then denied by many, but we all know now that it 
can be done, and has been done repeatedly. I know there are now 
mauy such hybrids that endure the climate here perfectly, not 
suffering from mildew or winter-killing in this uncongenial section, 
where 20 belov,' zero is not unusual. They are vines, too, raised 
from the seeds of the foreign grape cross-fertilized with the native, 
and must liave obtained their hardiness from the native parent. 
So predominant is the influence of the native parent, that it has 
b-ten more diffcult to get good fruit than hardy vines. I think 
some of the so-called liybricis as only seedlings from tJie foreign 
grape, and no such vines can be made to live in this country, as 
was repeatedly proved more than twenty years ago. 

As to some of the vines thus described, the originators may be 
mistaken, the cross not being effected. There are others that are 
covered every winter, and that are said to be produced from rare 
or unknown foreign varieties by a peculiar and secret process of 
hybridization. Such pretences are enough to excite distrust. But 
crossing is now done with certainty and success, although Mr. A. 
says "the story would not have been listened to twenty years ag.j." 

Hesays"tne efforts of late encourage the crossing of foreign 
grapes with our own natives, must result in a still greater decrease 
of grape-growing in this country." This is "begging" the whole 
question. If an improved fruit and vine were obtained by crossing, 



152 

it would increase grape-growing; if crossing debased the fruit 
or vine, it would discourage grape-growing. That is all that can be 
understandingly said about it. All through his article there is a very- 
offensive implication that those who have engaged in crossing are 
attempting to cheat the public, for which assumption there is no 
warrant. He wishes the government or the Pomological Society 
would intervene to protect the community, by a trial of all new 
grapes. I wish somebody, competent and disinterested, would do 
this. I have been desirous to have my hybrids tried in other parts 
of the country. To secure such a trial as Mr. A. advises, I offered 
in y<)ur paper, three or four years ago, to give thirty or forty varie- 
ties of my seedlings to be placed in some central locality, side by 
side with the seedlings of Dr. Parker, Mr. Folsom, Mr. Prentiss, Mr. 
Ricketts, and others liaviug new varieties competing for public ap- 
proval, but no responce was made to this proposal. To secure such 
a trial of these vines, I last spring offered to sell assortments of 
thirty varieties, at a price which would not have repaid me, had all 
my vines been sold, one-fourth of my money outlay in the matter. 

To obtain such a trial in distant and more favorable parts of the 
country, and by the most competent horticulturists, this offer was 
sent to prominent nurserymen, to the Commissioner of Agriculture, 
and to all agricultural colleges. I thought the colleges were the 
best places to try the vines, and that tliey would be triad to do this, 
and that, perhaps, the Commissioner of Agriculture would purchase 
and supply them. But of these authorities only one agricultural 
college had sufficient enterprise or courage to buy and try the 
vines — a result so ludicrous as to give me more amusement than 
chagrin. Only a few assortments were sold. The nurserymen of- 
fered to buy a few vines of those kinds that Mr. Wilber and others 
have commended, but I was not willing to sell such alone, or to 
have them go into the propagation of the vines for sale until they 
had tried several kinds, and found which were best adapted to their 
respective sections. I have not offered my vines for sale except to 
such parties, and for the purpose of trial, nor to tlie public general- 
ly, until today, and by the advertisement sent herewith.* Tliis 
surely, does not look like an attempt to impose uion the iguurant 
or credulous. 

I suppose we shall hear next season about those sold in the South 
and West, and 1 have no doubt the report will be such as to satisfy 
the i)ublic, and perhaps Mr. A., that there has really been a great 



153 

iraprovement iu the fruit without impairmeut of the vine by hy- 
bi'idizatiou. Permit me to add that my experience strengtheu my 
faith iu the utility and ultimate success of this method of obtain- 
ing desired plants of all species. I am still crossing and planting 
the seeds of hybrids by thousands. The original vines were all left 
unprotected iu the open air, exposod to all the vicissitudes of cold 
and wet in this region, as I depend upon the ''survival" of the 
fittest. I have, however, a large cold-house for the trial of the fruit 
of such as I find too late to ripen here in the open air. 

Ipswich, Mass. GEORGE HASKELL. 

In 1884 the 250th anniversary ofthe settlement of Ipswich 
was made the most important and largest festival ever held 
in the tow^n, at which I was appointed President of the day. 
As that was the last occasion of my addressing the public, 
in opening ofthe exercises, I think it well to insert what I 
said, here, although it also appears in the detailed report of 
the proceedings on that occasion : 

Lai>ies and Gentlemen, — Two hundred and fifty years ago this 
day, the Court of Assistants, which at that time constituted the 
government of the Massachusetts Colony, passed an order that 
"Agawam shall be called Ipswitch ;" and from that date and event 
we reckon our existence as a town. We have met today, in com- 
memoration of that event, to refresh and strengthen the memory of 
the circumstances and the events attending the settlement of tlie 
town, and of the character and work of the men engnged in tiiat 
undertaking. The beauty of this location and tiie fertility of the 
soil allured settlers here several years before the act of incorpora- 
tion, and before any grant of land was made or authorized; for we 
find in the colonial records, as early as 1630,— on the 7th day of Sep- 
tember, the same day on which it was ordered that 'Trimountain 
should be called Boston," — the Court of Assistants also issued an 
an order "that a warrant shall be pre ently sent to Agawam to 
command those that are planted there forthwith to come away." 
Who were then planted here, and whether they left or not, are 
matters of uncertainty ; but, a few years later, a number of the 
most prominent men of the Colony came to this town to reside. 
They had grants of land — house-lots, town-lots, as they were called 
— for the erection of residences, planting-lots of about six acres 



154 

near by, and a larger extent of agricultural or farming land farther 
away, Several of them built residences in the town ; but, after the 
lapse of a few years, some of them removed from the town, and 
sold their land here. A few, however, who moved away, retained 
their lauds, which have descended to some branch of their 
families, and are held today, in many instances, by descendants of 
the first grantee. Those wlio remained here gave their attention 
to the cultivation of the soil, and ag:riculture became, and for two 
hundred years continued to be, the principal business of the town. 
These early settlers were men of good education, for that period. 
They knew the value of education, and at once provided for the 
instruction of their children. They understood their rights, and 
were among the first in the country to assert their rights against 
the encroachments of the crown. They comprehended their duties 
as citizens, and no interest of chur<5h or town suffered by their neg- 
lect. They recogui/ed their obligations to a rightful government, 
and met all the requisitions upon them for men and 
means which the exigencies of the Colony often made necessary. 
Living upjn their lands, they were in a measure seluded from 
much of the rest of the busy world ; but upon those estates they 
♦mjoyed all the highest blessings of human life, — health, peace, 
plenty, and contentment. But such quiet lives were not adapted 
to all times and to all temperaments; and many young men of 
every generation, natives of the town, moved away in quest of 
fame or fortune. We have no reason to complain of their de- 
parture. They generally bore with them cultivated intellects and 
good morals; and many of them became cantres of widespread and 
beneficial influence in their new homes, and thus brought honor 
upon their native town. The people of this town have always felt 
much interest in those families that have moved from tliem, and 
have taken pride in the prominence they have attained in the busi- 
ness and professional circles of larger communities; and we are 
glad, very glad, to meet on this occasion representatives of so many 
of those families that moved from our borders in earlier or in later 
times. We trust tliey will find in the incidents of this day — in 
what they shall see and liear of the town, its origiu and progress, 
its people, its natural beauties and institutions — something to in- 
crease and strengthen their interest in the town, in its history and 
future. It is one of the peculiar advantages of a celebration of this 
kind, that it calls these wanderers home; that it strengtiiens and 
quickens the memori<^s that cluster around the home of their child- 



155 

hood ; that it excites an interest in the localities and scenes \n 
which their ancestors lived and labored, and strengthens their 
affection for iheir native land. Love of home begets love of country ; 
and it is well, by such a celebration as this, to strengthen the at- 
tachment of every son and daughter of the land to their old ances- 
tral home; i^o that, wherever they may wander over the earth, they* 
will turn to it with fond recollnction, and come back to it in after- 
life to revive the memories of the past, and to renew the associa- 
tions and ties of their childhood and youth. 

During the long existence of the town, and since many of these 
families moved from her borders, there have, of course, been some 
changes here; but much remains as it was in the times of our au- 
cestoi's. Enough remains unchanged, we think, to make the town 
interesting to their descendants. Many of these dwellings they 
built axKl occupied. Tlie fields they planted and tilled are all 
around us. Their graves are here. Sires and sons of successive 
generations rest on yonder hillside. We walk today in the paihs 
our fatliers trod ; we drink at tiie foontains from which they drank; 
we gather around tlie heartlistones which they laid; and Nature 
here wears her primitive beauty still, unspoiled by tlie hands of 
man. From these surrounding hilltops we liave the same grand 
and beautiful prospect which they beheld: on one side the ocean, 
always sublime, the islands, the long line of shore, and the distant 
headlands; on the other side a wide and varied prospect of hill 
and valley, Held and forest, and the little streams glistening arn. ng 
the overhanging branches and tall groves,— a view which must 
have filled their hearts with gladness when they first looked upon 
it as their land of promise, and whicli is spread before our sight 
today as our inheritance from them. 

From that time until now — for twelve years — I have lived 
in a very quiet and retired manner, giving my time and labor, 
so far as able, to the improvement of my grounds and the 
care of my orchards, and especially to the work of crossing 
and re-crossing the grape, and of planting a new lot of such 
seeds every year, still hoping and believing that in this man- 
ner, sooner or later, and probably after I am resting from 
my labor, new and better varieties of this delicious fruit 
will be obtained which can be grown with ease and success 



156 

in the soil and climate of every part of our country ; in this 
hope and belief I have labored, content 

"To let my life serenely glide 

Thro' silent scenes, obscurely calm, 

Nor wealth, nor strife pollute the tide :" 



"When labor tires or pleasure palls 

Still shall the stream untroubled be, 

Till down the steep of age it falls. 
And mingles with eternity." 



